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For today, let's talk about my visit to Jurong Island, Singapore's balancing act with data centres, and whether we are seeing the rise of AI data centres in Southeast Asia.
Visiting Jurong Island
On Monday, I had the chance to visit Singapore's Jurong Island, a gazetted Protected Area that is responsible for 3% of Singapore's GDP. The occasion was a media event where STT GDC launched its new testbed for DC power in data centres, with the goal of gaining competency to eventually develop new standards for data centres.
For those who might not yet be aware, JTC has set aside 20 hectares for a low-carbon data centre park on Jurong Island. And let's just say the statutory board has been showing it to data centre operators who have expressed interest in participating in DC-CFA2, one of the primary avenues to build new data centres in Singapore.
Given that I have permission to drive in, I asked and Adriel from JTC was kind enough to take me around on a tour. I saw the hoardings for the green data centre park, drove around the extent of the allocated area, and cross-referenced existing and upcoming power substations nearby against Google Maps.
Just as on-site data centre visits offer a different perspective, the chance to see Jurong Island up close gave me a much deeper understanding and appreciation of Singapore's strategy around data centres and renewables. I am most appreciative of Adriel's patience and his thoughtful answers to my many questions.
I'm glad that what I've previously written in "Singapore's data centre restraint is actually a power play" (Free) and "Singapore's audacious bet on sustainable data centres" (Paywall) are holding up. What I've learned is still percolating in my mind, but I plan to ink it down in a Substack piece soon. So do sign up if you haven't yet.
Singapore's balancing act
Separately, Micron Technology on Tuesday broke ground on a new advanced wafer fabrication facility at its North Coast Drive manufacturing compound. With this announcement, Micron will be investing US$24 billion over 10 years to produce NAND wafers for high-performance storage.
Interestingly, a report on The Edge the very next day noted that Sembcorp Industries has won an expanded power supply agreement that will see it sell another 150MW to Micron.
Why am I talking about this? I think it perfectly epitomises why Singapore must carefully balance its data centre growth and ensure it allocates power to other high-growth industries.
We know Meta's 150MW data centre in Singapore saw an investment of SG$1.4 billion (US$1.1 billion) and created 100 jobs. In contrast, assuming that the 150MW will only go to the new wafer fabrication facility, Micron's investment would represent over 20 times that amount and 16 times more jobs (1,600 new jobs). And we haven't even touched on the ripple effects across the semiconductor ecosystem.
There is clearly no comparison.
The rise of AI data centres?
Digital Edge this week announced a US$4.5 billion investment to build a 500MW data centre campus in Indonesia. Unlike some other claims I've come across in my time, this doesn't appear to be a vapourware announcement but is grounded in actual timelines and investment numbers that match up with the stated capacity.
Specifically, phase one will see the completion of three buildings with RFS dates of Q4 2026, Q1 2027, and Q2 2027. Crucially, the CGK Campus is located in the GIIC industrial estate, which will provide the necessary infrastructure, including the available electricity supply. When fully built out, it will propel Digital Edge to having the most installed capacity in Indonesia.
Here's the thing. With tepid colocation demand, data centre capacity has grown comparatively slowly in Indonesia compared with other Southeast Asian markets. Digital Edge is surely eyeing AI deployments, not typical colocation deals. Do they have customers already lined up? And are we seeing the rise of AI data centres in Asia?
Regards,
Paul Mah
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