Singapore has launched the world’s first liquid cooling standard to enable energy-efficient cooling for AI data centres in tropical climates.
Singapore has launched the world’s first standard for a new liquid cooling standard to enable energy-efficient cooling for AI data centres in tropical climates
The new Singapore Standard (SS) 726:2026 Liquid Cooling in Tropical Data Centres was jointly developed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), through the Singapore Standards Council (SSC), together with industry consultation.
Unveiled yesterday, the new standard forms part of Singapore’s push towards more green data centres. It complements IMDA’s Green Data Centre Roadmap, and is in line with the country’s Tropical Data Centre standard and Energy Efficiency of Data Centre IT Equipment standard.
Data centres are a key part of Singapore’s critical digital infrastructure that power AI systems, and are central to the country’s goals to be a leading AI hub.
With the growing AI adoption, data centres are handling more compute-intensive workloads that generate more heat and need more efficient cooling.
Liquid cooling uses fluids to transfer heat from hardware chips and can reduce energy consumption at data centre level by more than 30 per cent, compared to traditional air cooling.
However, tropical climate with high temperatures and humidity introduce added challenges. These include equipment corrosion, which can impact cooling efficiency and reliability.
SS 726 addresses the specific requirements of operating such systems in tropical climates, and is based on existing international standards for liquid cooling, according to IMDA. The standard, it says, also supports water efficiency by suggesting best practices to measure and optimise water use.
“Liquid cooling is increasingly important to support the higher power densities required for AI and other advanced computing workloads, while improving cooling efficiency,” said Aileen Chia, deputy chief executive at IMDA.
Choy Sauw Kook, director-general (Quality & Excellence) at EnterpriseSG, said that SS 726 provides data centre operators, technology providers and customers with “a trusted benchmark for designing, deploying and scaling liquid cooling systems safely and reliably in tropical conditions.”
