The moment has arrived to reveal the winners of the 2024 edition of the annual DCD Awards !
DCD is delighted to honor the most talented people and the best data center projects in the industry.
As ever, hundreds of entries were submitted by contestants from across the world. An independent panel of data center experts selected the finalists for the open entry categories, and determined which was worthy of an award.
Today, the awards were presented in a gala ceremony – and the winners are listed here
Click here to see the names of all the finalists
Edge Data Center Project of the Year Winner: BDx Data Centers in collaboration with Nvidia
BDx created a national AI platform for Indonesia by combining high-density core training campuses with a network of 50+ Edge sites for low-latency inference. CGK4 was delivered in 73 days, and the Edge network now covers 98 percent of the population, enabling sovereign AI services at scale.
This category is sponsored by Schneider Electric
Asia Pacific Data Center Project of the Year Winner: Bridge Data Centres
Bridge Data Centres’ MY07 facility brought Malaysia’s first effluent-water cooling into live service, turning sewage into cooling-grade water on site. It went live on schedule while MY06 ran uninterrupted, cutting the treatment footprint by around 30 percent and enabling water recovery above 90 percent in the best conditions.
This category is sponsored by Huawei
Middle East & Africa Data Center Project of the Year Winner: Pure Data Centres Group in collaboration with Laing O’Rourke
Pure Data Centres and Laing O’Rourke delivered AUH01 on Yas Island, bringing 10MW online across two phases. Phase one was completed on time in February 2025, and phase two was finished early in July 2025, supported by prefabrication and digital-lean delivery, with targets including WUE 0.18.
This category is sponsored by Munters
Latin America Data Center Project of the Year Winner: Elea Data Centers in collaboration with Hyphen
Rio AI City is turning Rio’s Olympic Park into Latin America’s first AI-ready digital district. Phase one delivers 1.5GW of renewable-powered capacity, scalable to 3.2GW, with water-free cooling and strong momentum, including a projected 10,000+ jobs.
This category is sponsored by Johnson Controls
North American Data Center Project of the Year Winner: Crusoe in collaboration with AlfaTech
Crusoe’s Abilene site is a 1.2GW AI data center built for extreme density and rapid delivery. Using liquid cooling and repeatable modular design, the first phase became operational around 12 months after breaking ground, supported by an energy-first model that includes onsite generation.
This category is sponsored by ZincFive
European Data Center Project of the Year Winner: Start Campus in collaboration with Schneider Electric
Start Campus and Schneider Electric delivered SIN01 as the first step of a 1.2GW AI campus in Sines. It pioneers gigawatt-scale seawater cooling, achieves a WUE of 0, and is built to support rack densities above 130kW, setting a new benchmark for scale and sustainability in Europe.
This category is sponsored by Global Commissioning
Mission Critical Tech Innovation Award Winner: Ciena in collaboration with Meta
Ciena and Meta rethought out-of-band management using passive optical network technology to simplify scale and reduce infrastructure overhead. The result is a resilient, automated approach that can free up more than 99 percent of the rack space used by legacy setups, while also reducing power and cabling.
This category is sponsored by Designer Group
Energy Impact Award Winner: RE24 in collaboration with Keppel Data Centres
Keppel Data Centres Ireland and RE24 moved beyond annual renewable claims to hour-by-hour matching. Four Irish PPAs cover 100 percent of annual demand, reaching 79 percent hourly matching and delivering more than £1.5 million in tenant savings in under 12 months.
This category is sponsored by RED
Community Impact Award Winner: Microsoft in collaboration with United Way of Hyderabad
Microsoft partnered with United Way of Hyderabad for a Comprehensive Community Development Program to help four villages drive their own progress across education, health, livelihoods, and sustainability. In its first year, it has supported more than 22,400 people through learning centers, digital access, and local water restoration and tree planting.
This category is sponsored by Cleveland Cable Company
Data Center Workforce Initiative of the Year Winner: Scala Data Centers
Scala links data center growth to tangible workforce outcomes in the communities around its sites. In 2024, the initiative supported more than 17,000 indirect jobs, while the Re:Flow program recycled materials such as 6.3 tons of copper cable and reinvested the proceeds into vocational training.
This category is sponsored by DCD>Academy
Data Center Construction Team of the Year Winner: Princeton Digital Group
PDG’s TY1 engineering team successfully delivered Phase 1 of the 96MW TY1 campus, one of Japan’s most advanced AI-ready data centers, overcoming seismic, regulatory, and infrastructure complexities. By leveraging local expertise and strong vendor collaboration, the team set new benchmarks in reliability, sustainability, and scalability.
This category is sponsored by Grundfos
Data Center Operations Team of the Year Winner: Chindata Group
Chindata’s Lingqiu operations team manages more than 350MW and over 30,000 racks while maintaining 100% SLA performance. With AI-led operations and liquid cooling, they achieved a PUE of 1.18 and reduced cooling energy by 9.4 percent, saving roughly $1.7 million a year.
This category is sponsored by Airedale by Modine
Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year Winner: Khazna Data Centers’ – Arwa Alali
In three years, Arwa Alali has contributed to more than 6GW of AI-ready data centre delivery across seven countries. Her work includes major optimization wins, including a 35 percent space improvement on a 100MW project, a significant capacity uplift in Dubai, and a zero-downtime AI upgrade at a live site.
This category is sponsored by Kirby
Data Center Woman of the Year Winner: Karen Petersburg
Karen Petersburg is showing what modern leadership looks like in data centre delivery, pairing AI-ready campus execution with measurable ESG outcomes. She has pioneered sustainability tracking and built practical community programs, including workforce pathways and initiatives that deliver tangible local benefits.
This category is sponsored by Anord Mardix, a Flex Company
Outstanding Contributor Winner: Joe Kava
Tonight’s winner is someone who helped quietly rewrite the rules of what a modern data center could be — long before the rest of the world caught up.
They challenged long-held assumptions about cooling, power, efficiency and scale. They proved that hyperscale didn’t have to mean waste. That resilience didn’t have to mean excess. And that sustainability could sit at the very heart of global digital infrastructure.
For more than a decade, the influence of their thinking has rippled far beyond a single company — shaping how operators design, build and run data centers across the world today.
From redefining operational efficiency, to integrating hardware, software and facilities into a single high-performance system, this individual’s legacy is now embedded in the DNA of our industry.
Tonight, we recognize not just a career — but a mindset that changed an industry.
Special thanks to our Headline Partner…
Mercury is a European contractor that builds and manages complex engineering projects that reimagine how people work and live in the built environment. Mercury believes that real innovation happens if you’re willing to be brave. Its determination and sharp focus enable Mercury to deliver leading edge construction solutions across a range of key sectors, taking its clients to new territories they never thought possible.
Mercury’s purpose is to deliver its client’s vision through leading edge construction solutions, going beyond their duty which turns clients into partners and builds relationships that thrive across the following Sectors: Enterprise Data Centres, Advanced Technology & Life Sciences, Hyperscale Data Centres, Fire Protection, Technical Support Services (TSS), Data Centre Facility Management, Healthcare & Building Services.
