Four data centre operators have been selected to build new facilities and boost Singapore’s capacity by 200MW to meet new AI demand, partly with the help of green energy.
Digital Realty, Equinix, Keppel Data Centres and ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) will each build 50MW facilities, which together will represent a “mega-sized” campus when completed on a data centre park on Jurong Island.
The companies will have to power at least 50 per cent of their data centres through green energy sources, such as low-carbon hydrogen, solar energy or biomethane.
They are also expected to run their data centres more efficiently, with the help of liquid cooling, for example, and meet sustainable standards such as Singapore’s Green Mark DC Platinum Certification.
The four companies got ahead in a field of more than 20 proposals submitted to the Singapore government, according to an announcement today by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Economic Development Board.
In December last year, the government had called for proposals to expand the country’s data centre capacity and retain its status as a global node for AI and connectivity.
The new expansion comes after an earlier 80MW capacity boost in 2023 in the Republic. Equinix, GDS, Microsoft, and an AirTrunk-ByteDance consortium were the chosen operators that time.
Singapore had paused the expansion of data centres in 2019 after concerns with energy usage and environmental impact. That was before the current AI gold rush and as well as more efficient data centre technologies that enable much of today’s new facilities.
In recent years, Singapore has been careful to expand its data centre capacity, choosing instead to work with neighbour Malaysia to boost growth in the southern state of Johor.
Despite growing sustainability efforts in the industry, from more efficient construction to less impactful operations with improved cooling, for example, there has been a backlash across the world, as AI data centres compete with locals for resources such as energy and water.
In Johor, residents have complained about forests being cleared near their homes as well as lower water pressure and dust from the construction of data centres.
Notably, the new batch of data centres to be built in Singapore will not be on the mainland but the Jurong Island industrial area connected by a causeway.
Roughly 20ha of land – or 25 football fields – have earlier been reserved for a data centre park. This is expected to support data centres that consume up to 700MW of power, which is enough to power tens of thousands of homes.
Big Oil companies are still the most prominent operators on Jurong Island, a reflection of their contribution to Singapore’s economy in the past several decades.
They will soon be joined by data centres built relatively far from the most populated areas in the crowded city-state.
