Craig MacFadyen Returns: Inside OCP, Innovation Theatre, and What’s Really Coming Next for Cooling

Craig MacFadyen is back on the podcast - this time fresh from the floor of the OCP Global Summit in Dublin.

In this episode, Craig and Robert dig into the real conversations happening around liquid cooling, hyperscaler expectations, and whether the data center world is preparing for a future that hasn’t quite arrived yet.

From CDUs and 500kW rack forecasts to the tension between innovation and affordability, they tackle the practical, the political, and the philosophical challenges facing data center cooling in 2025. Craig also shares his perspective on startup tech, smarter not newer design, and why collaboration still feels more talked about than practiced.

It’s an honest, thought-provoking follow-up to Craig’s first appearance - don’t miss it.

🎧 Topics include:

• Key takeaways from OCP 2025
• The rise of rack density and the “500kW by 2030” challenge
• How hyperscalers are influencing the market—and when adoption will really happen
• The innovation bottleneck caused by NDAs and over-regulation
• What smart design actually looks like in cooling
• The role of power availability and why cloud still dominates over AI

Connect with Robert: www.linkedin.com/in/robertussher
Connect with Craig: www.linkedin.com/in/craig-macfadyen-5b4b811a