Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom has shared a detailed and fascinating insight into the ways in which the deployment of AI infrastructure is impacting key metrics and considerations for companies investing in AI factories. 

Taiwanese media and research firm Digitimes recently held its 2026 Enterprise Data Center Forum, where Chunghwa Telecom senior engineer Hsueh Jen-Hao was one of the speakers. His presentation comes just a few months after Chunghwa unveiled its new strategic vision ‘Igniting the Future with AI’. This strategy highlights the importance of AI to its future plans and the development of distributed AI datacentre (AIDC) infrastructure to “ensure both resilience and scalability” – see Chunghwa Telecom unveils AI, infrastructure strategy.

As Digitimes reports, Hsueh outlined in detail the differences between a traditional and an AI datacentre – which Hsueh equated to a “five-star hotel” – in terms of the nature of the technology being deployed. For example, as the telco upgrades its datacentres to house AI servers, it is having to reconsider the structural requirements of its facilities: As a single rack of servers can weigh more than 1,250 kilograms, this means floor loading requirements have increased significantly from 500 kg/m2 to 2,000-2,500 kg/m2.

In addition, the power demand per rack is often 100 kW and can even be as high as 200 kW, way higher than the traditional 2 kW to 5 kW range for regular datacentre racks. That, in turn, means traditional downflow air-conditioning systems and fan-wall cooling systems are not suitable for such facilities, and a rethink of energy management and cooling architecture is required, noted the Chunghwa Telecom man. 

As a result, “Chunghwa Telecom is actively introducing liquid-cooling technologies and tailoring solutions to individual customer requirements,” noted Digitimes. 

Chunghwa Telecom has been preparing to meet some of these requirements for some time, though. It launched its Green Energy initiative in 2020 and, as of 2025, about 40% of the electricity consumed by its datacentres came from renewable energy sources, with the operator aiming to make that 100% by 2030, according to Digitimes. 

Hsueh also highlighted Chunghwa Telecom’s focus on the development and deployment of all-photonics networks (APN) technology in its datacentres and network infrastructure. As an early adopter of Japan’s innovative optical and wireless network (IOWN) approach, which NTT Group has been developing for years, the company successfully activated the world’s first IOWN all-photonics network in 2024.  

Chunghwa is also one of the companies that, along with NTT, SK Telecom and others, has established an IOWN AI fund worth up to $500m that will provide seed capital to companies developing IOWN-related technologies. 

Hsueh also noted that Chunghwa Telecom continues to invest in submarine cable connectivity to provide and support international connectivity for its AI infrastructure deployments. Examples include the Southeast Asia–Japan Cable 2 (SJC2) cable, which went into active service a year ago, the East-to-Asia (E2A) cable – announced in March 2025 – that will connect California with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and the Asia Pacific Route Incorporating Cognitive Optical Transport (APRICOT) system, which is scheduled for completion in 2027.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV