Singapore Ends Data Center Pause As It Seeks Sustainable Growth

This blog post was initially published on Light Reading.

The data center industry has never received the recognition it likely deserves for effectively managing power usage. Data centers consume a substantial amount of energy, but their proportion of worldwide electricity consumption has remained steady at approximately 1%-1.3% over the past decade.

According to Moises Levy, the CEO of DC Metrix, a data center analyst firm, during the period leading up to 2020, data centers maintained a consistent level of energy consumption on a yearly basis. However, there was a significant surge in internet traffic, which escalated by 17 times, and the workload also experienced a remarkable growth of around ten to 12 times.

He mentioned that a significant portion of that progress can be attributed to the transition to cloud computing – a significantly more effective method for managing IT services. Additionally, he highlighted the influential impact of the hyperscalers, who possess the necessary funds and motivation to continuously enhance energy efficiency.

However, despite its impressive achievements, the data center industry in Singapore, a highly digitalized country, is not experiencing continuous growth. To address this issue, the government has recently lifted a four-year ban on constructing new data centers and has granted licenses to four companies to create additional capacity.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) stated that it had received over 20 submissions, which were assessed based on their energy efficiency, AI computing abilities, and enhancement of global connectivity.

The victors of the competition include major players in the United States, Equinix and Microsoft, along with GDS, a data center operator from China. Additionally, a joint effort from AirTrunk, an Australian company, and ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the widely popular social media app TikTok, emerged successful in the bidding process.

The IMDA emphasized that it was allowing the construction of new resources only temporarily. They intend to provide additional resources in the next year to year and a half. However, the issue lies in the small scale of this endeavor, with only 80MW being allocated. Despite being a trial run with potential future growth, it is not a significant increase considering the city already has over 1000MW of established data center capacity.

In contrast, Malaysia, which is situated nearby, is currently in the process of constructing the initial phase of a data center park with a capacity of 72MW, as part of a larger plan to reach 500MW. Meanwhile, Tokyo and Beijing, which are competitive cities in northern Asia, have capacities of 865MW and 1600MW, respectively.

The IMDA recently implemented fresh regulations aimed at enabling a progressive rise in operating temperatures for data centers, specifically beneficial for those located in tropical regions. The organization states that this adjustment has the potential to result in cost savings of approximately 2% to 5% in the cooling expenses for every 1 degree increment.

According to the IMDA, they have a firm dedication to creating a plan that leads to the establishment of environmentally friendly data centers that produce lesser carbon emissions, all in line with Singapore's net-zero objectives.

However, it remains a challenge in this city, which has limited land and energy resources, to keep up with neighboring cities and meet the requirements of the digital economy and sustainability goals.