Strengthening data centre infrastructure through ODM

By Staff Report August 26, 2026 6:14 pm IST

Through ODM and precision manufacturing, Delta positions itself as a key player in equipping India for future global AI challenges. Manjula Girish, Business Head – ODM – Components and Power Electronics, Delta Electronics India, emphasises the necessity for robust Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) capabilities in response to India’s burgeoning digital growth and rising demands from AI data centres.

India’s digital growth is booming, and the momentum is hard to miss. Delta isn’t just consumers scrolling through apps anymore; the nation is rapidly becoming the foundational machine room for global digital infrastructure. In 2020, India’s total data centre capacity sat at a modest 375 megawatts (MW). By 2025, that figure skyrocketed to roughly 1,500 MW. In 2026, comfortably on track to touch between 1,700 and 2,000 MW.

This is massive progress. But beneath the surface, a major industrial shift is required. The infrastructure that successfully supported yesterday’s enterprise cloud services cannot withstand the heavy, unrelenting realities of artificial intelligence (AI).

Building tomorrow’s AI data centres is no longer a standard real estate construction project; it is an advanced electronics manufacturing challenge. To support the rapid rollout of high-density AI clusters, India requires robust Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) capabilities on home soil to design, build, and scale complex power and thermal hardware across both the grey space (facility-level infrastructure like chillers and air handling units) and the white space (IT equipment space including racks and coolant distribution units).

The AI density leap: a manufacturing realignment

Traditional data centre facilities were built for standard server racks requiring 5 kW to 10 kW of power. Today, advanced AI workloads processing massive language models and real-time analytics rely on dense clusters of powerful GPUs. These setups force rack densities up to 30 kW, 50 kW, and beyond 80 kW per rack.

When you pack that much power into a single footprint, off-the-shelf power and cooling equipment hits a hard limit. Supplying continuous, high-efficiency power and managing extreme heat demands custom-built hardware engineered at the factory level.

At Delta Electronics India, the perspective is clear: solving the AI infrastructure bottleneck starts at the manufacturing assembly line. Delivering high-performance AI data centres requires strong ODM partnerships that bridge the gap between initial custom product design and precision volume production.

ODM in action: manufacturing high-density power delivery

In an AI-ready facility, moving electricity across standard conversion stages creates severe energy losses that turn directly into heat. When a single server rack demands over 30 kW, traditional distribution methods result in expensive energy waste and thermal bottlenecks.

Overcoming this requires a fundamental shift in how power hardware is produced. Through advanced ODM capabilities, power delivery is transformed from bulky, standalone units into consolidated, ultra-high-efficiency power shelves manufactured to integrate directly inside the server shelf. Furthermore, as the industry transitions toward high-voltage direct current systems, Delta is already fully prepared with 800VDC architecture products to support these high-power demands efficiently.

By manufacturing these specialised power architectures at scale:

Custom Integration: Power shelves, rectifiers, and busbars are engineered and assembled as a single, factory-tested unit tailored to specific GPU server frames.

Minimal Loss: Shorter internal conductive paths produced with strict quality controls minimise transmission loss and reduce heat generation right at the source.

Scalable Output: Local ODM production lines allow data centre operators to rapidly scale standardised, pre-tested power modules as their AI campuses grow.

Precision manufacturing for the liquid cooling shift

Thermal management represents another core area where ODM manufacturing is essential. Air cooling can no longer absorb heat fast enough to prevent a 50 kW to 80 kW server rack from overheating. The industry’s transition toward liquid cooling requires specialised, high-precision industrial manufacturing:

Direct-to-Chip Liquid Cooling Systems (LCS): Manufacturing micro-channel cold plates and leak-proof liquid lines assembled with zero-tolerance precision to sit directly atop high-power chips.

Coolant Distribution Units (CDU): Factory-building and testing heavy-duty fluid pumping units designed to regulate, filter, and distribute coolant across server rows without interruption.

Advanced Air Handling & Fan Walls: Producing large-scale Air Handling Units (AHUs) and precision-balanced Electronically Commutated (EC) fans designed for structural durability and maximum airflow efficiency.

When these systems are manufactured under a unified ODM framework, every mechanical and electrical connection is validated before deployment, drastically reducing on-site installation risks and operational failures.

Manufacturing India’s sustainable digital future

As massive data centre campuses expand across technology hubs like Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi-NCR, long-term national sustainability must remain a priority. Estimates from the Ministry of Power indicate that electricity demand from India’s data centres could reach 13.56 GW by 2031–32.

Meeting this demand responsibly depends heavily on the efficiency standards set inside manufacturing plants. Every power unit, cooling block, and industrial fan produced at Delta Electronics India represents a conscious commitment to energy efficiency and lowered Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metrics across the industry.

By advancing local ODM capabilities and high-tech hardware manufacturing, Delta isn’t just supplying equipment; they are building the resilient, self-reliant physical backbone required for India to lead the global AI era.