Let's Get Digital with Carrie Charles From Hype to Human: Hanwha’s Edge with Bryant Tam
Nov 5, 2025
Bryant Tam, Vice President of Hanwha Data Centers and former Google strategist, shares his remarkable career journey from utility operations to building energy campuses. He discusses Hanwha's power-first infrastructure for AI, emphasizing the company's lean and agile approach. Bryant gives insights into distinguishing real commitments in the data center hype and building an authentic team culture. He also discusses innovative hiring strategies and his vision for nurturing the next generation of talent in the evolving data center landscape.
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Career Path From Utilities To Hyperscale
- Bryant describes his career path from SoCal Edison to Google and then to Hanwha, highlighting hands-on roles like building substations and managing outage crews.
- He explains discovering data centers at Google and shifting into site acquisition, power supply, and strategic negotiation roles for seven years.
Energy Heritage Powers Data Center Strategy
- Hanwha is a diversified 70-year-old conglomerate with deep energy roots including Q-Cells and Hanwha Energy.
- That energy heritage gives Hanwha Data Centers access to solar, LNG, hydrogen, and turbine expertise to support power-first sites.
Small Team, Big Energy Backing
- Hanwha pairs a small, fast data center team with vast corporate energy capabilities to move quickly on decisions.
- Their 'power-first' focus matches hyperscaler needs where land is plentiful but power access is the constraint.