Command the data center lifecycle: maximize flexibility, uptime, and infrastructure investments in the AI expansion boom

Increasing demand for end-to-end lifecycle services from sourcing to circularity

Data center operators face more complex, ever-evolving supply chain, technology, and regulatory landscapes. Each operator has its own perspective and strategy for how it designs, sources, builds, delivers, and manages across its product lifecycle, which can include internal products, such as custom processors, and new cloud instances delivered through infrastructure. Wherever a company lands on the insource or outsource decision, flexibility is an important factor when engaging the ecosystem at each stage of the product lifecycle.

Flexibility in design is essential. Some companies prioritize customization, while others use reference designs from industry standards, such as the Open Rack v3 specification from like the Open Compute Project (OCP), or make slight adjustments to these designs. Deep design and engineering expertise in technical domains is crucial for realizing each company’s architectural and operational vision.

Design and engineering flexibility intersects with component sourcing, particularly when advanced processors or “golden screws” are needed for integrated solutions. One hyperscaler faced challenges with a rivet design that hindered installation in data center enclosures, causing delays exacerbated by raw material shortages. Flex engineered an innovative solution that not only resolved the customer’s design challenge, but also revamped its supply chain to build resiliency, increase flexibility, and drive cost reduction—ultimately delivering cost savings of 10% YOY.

This example highlights the value of regionalized manufacturing ecosystems for companies seeking supply chain agility and resilience. Proximity to end markets aligns production with demand signals, facilitating tailored products for local needs and sustainability goals. For data center operators, this ensures timely delivery of IT, power, and cooling infrastructure with the specified configuration. Additionally, positioning

systems for high-demand components like GPUs late in the process enhances flexibility and responsiveness in constrained supply environments.

Locating manufacturing and service facilities near demand reduces risks and complexities associated with trade regulations, tariffs, geopolitical shifts, and supply chain disruptions. For instance, vertical integration of data center racks includes sheet metal fabrication, rack assembly, and testing of compute, storage, networking, power shelves, and liquid cooling capabilities in one location. Without vertical integration, the total time and cost, including tariffs, required to individually pack and ship each of those key components to data centers would equal or exceed the cost of the rack itself, while additionally generating an extra 200 pounds of packaging waste per rack

While vertical integration reduces costs and streamlines fulfillment, equally important is focusing on the servicing and end-of-life of compute and power infrastructure to maximize return on investment. Reverse logistics, repair, refurbishment, asset recovery, and recycling optimize service and refresh cycles, enhancing infrastructure value and minimizing downtime while supporting sustainability commitments.

There is an opportunity to extend the product lifecycle by selling surplus, returned, refurbished or unused compute, storage, and networking products through digital, business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces, such as Flex’s FreeFlow platform. These capabilities may generate new revenue streams, extend product lifecycles, and deliver additional environmental benefits.

Leverage analytics, AI and visualization across the lifecycle

At Flex, we balance flexibility, precision, and control through data, analytics, AI, and automation. IT professionals understand how this intelligence is applied to server management for predictive maintenance, problem resolution, resource allocation, load balancing, and energy optimization. There are similar benefits in the supply chain. AI capabilities enable real-time visualization, planning, and troubleshooting from supplier sourcing to logistics and circular economy services. Flex leverages real-time insights from connected digital systems to enhance decision-making and planning, allowing customers to respond swiftly in a dynamic global environment.

For instance, a simulated scenario for a major hyperscaler using data collected and consolidated through our real-time, AI-enabled visualization platform revealed an opportunity to cut costs by over 20%, reduce delivery time by two days, and eliminate seven million kilograms of CO2 by relocating fulfillment to a single site for North American data centers.

Integrating the product lifecycle to meet modern data center challenges

Hyperscalers face unique challenges in refreshing data centers and building new ones to maintain a competitive edge. These challenges include rapid product iteration for custom systems and high volume demands across regions. We believe that integrating advanced manufacturing, power, and cooling solutions with lifecycle services optimally balances control and optimization.

Flex’s expertise allows us to analyze infrastructure across compute, storage, network, power, and cooling, proposing solutions that balance cost, resilience, and environmental impact. By integrating design, sourcing, manufacturing, delivery, and servicing, hyperscalers can reduce friction, accelerate delivery, and maximize investment.