SK tes Spotlights How AI-Driven Data Center Upgrades Are Transforming Global IT Asset Recovery

(SeaPRwire) –   SINGAPORE, SG – 09/05/2026 – (SeaPRwire) – SK tes has released new market insights indicating that the rapid worldwide growth of artificial intelligence infrastructure is significantly altering how businesses manage the complete lifecycle of their data center equipment. The company reports that the accelerated adoption of AI is leading to shorter hardware replacement cycles, increased pressure on supply chains, and a greater strategic emphasis on secure IT asset disposition and infrastructure recovery services.

As organizations expand their AI workloads and update their computing environments, traditional server refresh schedules are being superseded by much quicker upgrade timelines. Current industry trends suggest that servers optimized for AI and featuring intensive GPU usage are now being retired within 10 to 18 months, a stark contrast to the typical four- to six-year lifecycle historically associated with enterprise infrastructure.

This shift is resulting in substantial quantities of decommissioned servers, networking systems, storage infrastructure, processors, and memory components entering secondary markets. According to SK tes, many businesses are discovering that their current decommissioning and recovery processes are not adequately equipped to handle the speed and complexity introduced by AI-driven infrastructure turnover.

Eric Ingebretsen, Chief Commercial Officer at SK tes, commented in a recent industry discussion that organizations are modernizing their AI infrastructure at a faster pace than their operational retirement strategies can adapt. He pointed out that this disparity is creating both operational risks and new opportunities for companies that can implement scalable, secure, and value-focused IT asset disposition programs.

Industry analysts are increasingly viewing the capacity for infrastructure turnover as a crucial element in AI deployment strategies. Beyond ensuring compute availability, organizations must also manage secure equipment retirement, data sanitization, logistics coordination, and the recovery of residual hardware value at significantly higher volumes than in previous technology cycles.

SK tes stated that its global network for IT asset disposition and decommissioning has been designed to support these accelerated refresh environments. With over 40 facilities operating worldwide, the company offers onsite decommissioning services, secure data sanitization, rack-level infrastructure removal, component harvesting, and logistics management for enterprises, hyperscale operators, and cloud service providers.

The company highlighted that AI-driven infrastructure refresh cycles are also impacting the global memory market. Insights from the recent SK tes Market Insights Report suggest that AI-focused data centers are projected to utilize approximately 70% of the world’s memory chip production, as manufacturers increasingly prioritize high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technologies essential for AI accelerators.

This transition has substantially altered supply dynamics for conventional memory products like DDR4 DRAM. While DDR4 remains widely used in enterprise servers and embedded systems, major manufacturers are gradually shifting their production towards DDR5 and HBM technologies. The resulting imbalance has contributed to increased market volatility, characterized by rapid price surges followed by short-term declines due to sudden inventory releases.

SK tes indicated that IT asset disposition providers are becoming a vital secondary supply channel for DDR4 components during this market transition. Through refurbishment and recovery programs, retired servers from enterprise AI upgrade cycles can reintroduce tested and validated DDR4 memory modules into the market, helping to extend the operational life of legacy systems while alleviating supply shortages.

Ingebretsen further noted that the accelerating pace of AI adoption is compelling enterprises to re-evaluate the entire data center lifecycle, from procurement and deployment to decommissioning and value recovery. He emphasized the growing necessity for globally standardized processes, advanced data security protocols, and experienced program management capable of supporting large-scale infrastructure transitions.

As enterprises continue to increase their AI investments and consolidate existing infrastructure, SK tes stated that it remains committed to expanding its global operational capacity, enhancing its onsite service capabilities, and advancing its data sanitization technologies to support the next phase of digital infrastructure transformation.

About SK tes

Established in 2005 and operating as a subsidiary of SK ecoplant, SK tes is a global provider of sustainable battery recycling and technology lifecycle services. The company offers solutions for battery recycling, IT asset disposition, data center decommissioning, and material recovery, facilitating the retrieval of critical materials for reuse within manufacturing supply chains.

SK tes operates more than 40 facilities across 22 countries, providing customers with regional compliance expertise, localized operational support, logistics coordination, and standardized global service capabilities.