BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL DATA CENTER IN VIETNAM

When people talk about building a Data Center, many imagine a specialized facility equipped with UPS systems, generators, chillers, and hundreds of server racks.

In reality, however, a professional Data Center should be designed starting from the business case → operations → and only then working backward to the physical facility.

Having participated in and observed numerous projects, I believe the entire journey can be viewed through six “control gates.” These are not six sequential steps; many workstreams involving electrical systems, legal and regulatory matters, fire safety, environmental requirements, telecommunications, and design must run in parallel.

1.Define the Business Case and Owner’s Requirements

Before asking, “Where should we build it?”, the first question should be: What is the Data Center being built for?

Enterprise, Colocation, Hyperscale, or AI/HPC? How many MW of IT Load? How many racks? A density of 5–10 kW/rack or 30–60 kW/rack? Tier III or Tier IV? What is the target PUE? How will the facility be expanded in phases?

If these questions are not clearly answered from the outset, the project can easily end up with a facility that is technically completed but operationally inefficient—or one that runs out of capacity shortly after completion.

2.Site Selection — But Check the Power Supply Before “Falling in Love” with the Land

For a Data Center, an attractive plot of land does not necessarily make a good site.

You need to evaluate, in parallel, the availability and scalability of the power supply, backup power options, multiple independent fiber routes, flood risks, the surrounding environment, fire safety requirements, land-related legal matters, and available space for future expansion. These are also the key criteria emphasized during the site-selection stage.

The market is evolving very rapidly. Viettel’s Data Center at Tan Phu Trung, which broke ground in 2025, was announced with a capacity of 140 MW, approximately 10,000 racks, and high-density racks of up to 60 kW—demonstrating how fundamentally different power and cooling requirements have become in the AI era.

3.Legal and Regulatory Compliance Must Be a Project Workstream, Not Something Addressed at the End

Data Centers in Vietnam are simultaneously subject to requirements relating to investment, land, planning, construction, environment, fire safety, electricity, telecommunications, cybersecurity, and data.

Under the 2023 Telecommunications Law, Data Center services have been brought within the scope of telecommunications services, and service providers are required to complete the applicable registration procedures.

In particular, from February 1, 2026, Circular No. 42/2025/TT-BKHCN specifies the application of TCVN 9250:2021, ANSI/TIA-942-B/C, or the Uptime Institute Tier standards, together with relevant technical regulations on lightning protection and grounding.

4.Design: Design for Failure, Not Just for Normal Operation

A good Data Center should not be judged by how it performs when everything is operating normally.

It should be judged by what happens when utility power is lost, a UPS fails, a generator does not start, a chiller shuts down, one electrical path is taken offline for maintenance, or a network route is lost—while the IT load must remain operational.

Therefore, electrical, mechanical, ICT, security, fire protection, BMS/DCIM, and architectural systems must be designed as an integrated system rather than as independent disciplines.

Today, another major variable must also be considered: energy efficiency. Vietnam’s national digital infrastructure strategy has set a direction for new Data Centers to comply with green standards, with a target PUE of no more than 1.4.

5.Procurement & Construction: Change Management Is Just as Important as Construction Itself

Transformers, generators, UPS systems, switchgear, chillers, and other major equipment all have long lead times.

A seemingly minor change proposed by a contractor can undermine redundancy, coordination, commissioning, or Tier certification.

For this reason, submittals, FAT, shop drawings, method statements, change control, QA/QC, and as-built documentation must be managed extremely carefully. There is no such thing as “an equivalent alternative is good enough” if the change affects the original design intent.

6.Commissioning and Operational Readiness Are the Real “Final Exam”

Commissioning is not simply turning the equipment on, seeing that it runs, and accepting the system.

The process should progress from FAT → pre-functional testing → functional testing → individual system testing → Integrated System Testing, including scenarios involving power outages, thermal loads, fire protection systems, and BMS/DCIM monitoring.

At the same time, operational readiness must also be established on the people and process side: SOPs, MOPs, EOPs, staffing, spare parts, training, and emergency drills.

Ultimately, a good Data Center is not defined by how much expensive equipment it contains or how many certifications it achieves. What truly matters is whether, once placed into real operation, the entire system performs as designed, can withstand failure scenarios, and can be operated safely and reliably for many years.

For me, commissioning is not the final step of construction; it is the point at which a “building project” becomes a truly mission-critical infrastructure facility.