The Globalization Path of EPG CEO Alick Wan: a New Player Ready to Rock the Data Center Industry
SHANGHAI, Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 9-10, EPG Group made its second consecutive appearance at the 2024 Data Centre World Asia (Singapore Data Centre Exhibition) after making a successful debut at last year's exhibition. During the exhibition, EPG showcased its advanced liquid cooling system developed for AIDC, as well as several prefabricated (modular) solutions for IDC&AIDC construction.
EPG, a leading AI infrastructure service provider, an integrated enterprise that combines R&D, manufacturing, and services of prefabricated data centers, is gradually gaining prominence in the data center industry, redefining the future with its innovative products.
Alick Wan, the chairman and CEO of EPG, with exceptional foresight and courage, has spent nearly three decades, building his own business empire from the ground up.
From Small County to Nationwide
Wan was born in Jinhu County, a small city in northern Jiangsu surrounded by lakes. Rivers and streams were where Wan spent his childhood at. From an early age, he understood the deceptive power of water – serene yet forceful. These early experiences shaped his calm demeanor and resilient spirit.
In 1997, six years after graduating from college, Wan founded his first company. As a first-time entrepreneur, he chose the electromechanical equipment industry, leveraging his familiarity with the sector.
Wan always had an international vision and an open mindset for his business, and was intent on spotting new opportunities in the market. He established joint ventures with business partners from Singapore and Hong Kong, China, which gave him access to business opportunities from large multinational engineering companies.
After participating in projects in more than 60 countries worldwide, his company gradually emerged in the power system segment, accumulating considerable influence.
In 2004, to realize the bigger blueprint in his mind, Wan decided to start his next business chapter. That year, he founded EPG.
Engine, Power, and Generate
Wan says that the company's name, "EPG," stands for Engine, Power, and Generate, symbolizing the company's mission to serve as a powerful engine that drives significant advancements in society.
"In the past, building data centers in China followed the mindset of constructing buildings" said Wan. "However, the ever-growing trend of data centers also faced growing pains—high costs, being time consuming, and not to mention higher energy consumption and more water consumption, which not only increased their costs but also had more negative environmental impacts."
Wan then sensed a "green trend" and the market demand behind it.
To this end, EPG developed a green data center construction solution: Besides conventional renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, microgrid technology can provide a more stable and diverse combination of renewable energy.
In addition, cold plate liquid cooling's internal circulation and dry cooler's external circulation can cool high-power AI servers, significantly reducing data centers' water consumption.
Amid the trends of green energy conservation and efficient standardization, the construction method of data centers has also undergone tremendous changes, shifting away from the traditional civil engineering approach to a "Lego-like" one.
The fully prefabricated modular data center solution overcomes the downsides of traditional data center construction. It redesigns and optimizes the distribution of computer rooms, power generators, and other modules, concentrating them in cabins. For clients, these cabins serve as ready-to-use "building blocks" that can be flexibly combined into a data center based on different client needs.
Overseas, this new construction method can shorten the delivery cycle of traditional data centers from 24 to 36 months to 9 to 12 months. At the same time, prefabricated data centers can reduce the total construction cost of overseas projects by 30 to 50%.
Growing with AI, EPG Explores Globalization Path
In recent years, the field of AI has ushered in a surging wave of development. Wan quickly seized these new development opportunities.
"The development of AI will promote the development of chip and server technologies, bringing disruptive challenges to data center construction, and we need to make fast moves too," Wan said, expressing his views on the AI market, "AI is a large-scale, fast-growing industry, expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 36.6% from 2024 to 2030. On the other hand, AI is also a highly globalized industry, requiring a global perspective and execution for almost all business aspects." Wan said.
Wan firmly believes that only by entering the most frontier markets and mastering first-hand information can the best business decisions be made. Therefore, EPG's globalization blueprint is unfolding.
In recent years, EPG has extended its business to the Southeast Asian region and established a Southeast Asian subsidiary. Wan stated that the demand for cloud services, artificial intelligence (including AIGC and AGI.), and the Internet of Things (IoT) is continuously growing in the region. At the same time, public and private organizations, as well as multinational companies, are actively investing in IDC (Internet Data Centers) and AIDC (Artificial Intelligence Data Centers) in Southeast Asian countries. Wan believes that the Southeast Asian market is the next growth point for EPG to seek business breakthroughs.
"We have invested in factories in the Southeast Asian region and have attracted many talents to join, aiming to create a more localized business development model," Wan said, "In addition, EPG is also actively exploring data center markets in Europe, America, and other global regions. In the future, we will use Southeast Asia as a bridgehead to integrate and optimize the supply chain ecosystem and create data center products and solutions with global competitiveness."
Currently, EPG has strong R&D and manufacturing capabilities overseas, as well as a strong sales network. As the only prefabricated service provider with self-built factories both domestically and internationally, EPG's footprint has covered markets in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, UAE, Spain, and the United States, and is gradually exploring multiple emerging markets.
In 2023, Wan enrolled in CKGSB (Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business), and after completing his studies in 2024, he signed up for the fifth session of the ASEAN-RCEP Leaders Program at CKGSB. As the enterprise enters a new stage of development, he recognizes the need to continuously be on a learning journey, so in order to successfully meet the challenges of today and tomorrow
About EPG Group
EPG Group is a leading manufacturing company specializing in prefabricated (modular) data center products. With a robust R&D team based in Shanghai, our high-end manufacturing plants in Shanghai and Malaysia, and a significant presence across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the United States, we are at the forefront of innovation in the data center and power systems industry.
Our global footprint includes company setups in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Langfang. With over 20 years of experience, we have delivered innovative solutions for hyperscale data center projects across Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East.
EPG Group is committed to pushing the boundaries of technology and providing top-tier solutions to meet the evolving demands of the industry, bringing cutting-edge technology and unparalleled expertise to our clients worldwide.
SOURCE EPG Group
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