At the Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit in San Jose, the Foundation announced a new workstream titled “Scaling AI Clusters at NeoClouds”—a collaborative effort to accelerate open, efficient, and sustainable AI infrastructure among the new wave of GPU-powered cloud providers. James Kelly, VP of Market Intelligence and Innovation at OCP, described NeoClouds as “emerging hyperscalers” that are deploying vast amounts of OCP-recognized hardware and driving innovation in power, cooling, and serviceability. The new initiative, co-led by Scaleway, Denvr Dataworks, and Farm GPU, will focus on harmonizing design standards and management interfaces for next-generation AI data centers.
Scaleway’s VP of Hardware Engineering, Stéphane Dutilleul, and CTO office lead, Yann-Guirec Manac’h, detailed their journey from early OCP adopters to contributors. Scaleway, part of the Iliad Group, operates thousands of GPUs across Europe and plans a U.S. expansion. The company adopted OpenBMC for firmware management, explored Open Rack architectures for energy and thermal efficiency, and now participates in defining the 21-inch chassis standard for AI-ready servers. “Our goal is to reuse open designs across the industry, simplify deployment, and improve total cost of ownership,” said Manac’h, emphasizing the need for unified collaboration between hyperscalers and NeoClouds to meet sustainability and regional data sovereignty challenges across Europe.
Amy Short, Executive Officer for Advanced Data Center Technologies at Denvr Dataworks, outlined how modular data center architectures and immersion cooling are redefining AI infrastructure efficiency. Denvr’s modular systems can achieve 10x higher density than traditional colocation facilities—1 MW in 600 sq ft (≈56 m²) versus 6,400 sq ft (≈595 m²)—while maintaining a PUE below 1.04. Short showcased Denvr’s vertically integrated approach, combining hardware design, AI cloud platforms, and the AI Ascend customer program, which accelerates ROI for enterprises deploying AI workloads. “At Denvr, we shorten the time between investment and return,” she said. “Together with OCP, we can accelerate what’s next in AI.”
• OCP introduced Scaling AI Clusters at NeoClouds, co-led by Scaleway, Denvr Dataworks, and Farm GPU
• Scaleway outlined adoption of OpenBMC, Open Rack, and 21-inch chassis standards across European AI clusters
• Denvr Dataworks showcased modular immersion-cooled AI data centers achieving 10x density and PUE < 1.04
• Both firms stressed collaboration across the open hardware ecosystem to lower TCO and advance sustainability goals
“Let’s work together. Join our sessions, test our products, and collaborate on our solutions. Together with OCP, we can accelerate what’s next in AI,” said Amy Short of Denvr Dataworks.
See the full keynote here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeyzSQd1YbQ
🌐 Analysis: The new NeoClouds workstream marks a major evolution for the OCP community, expanding its focus beyond hyperscalers to include GPU-cloud operators that are scaling AI clusters in distributed geographies. Scaleway and Denvr illustrate the convergence of open standards, modular architecture, and sustainability as differentiators in the AI data center race. This aligns with recent OCP initiatives—Open Rack Wide, OpenBMC extensions, and Open Cluster Design for AI—underscoring how openness now defines competitiveness in the AI infrastructure era.
