Facebook to build $1b data center in Singapore, its first in Asia

A mock-up of Facebook’s Singapore data center in Jurong East / Photo credit: Facebook

Facebook has unveiled plans for its first self-owned and self-managed data center in Asia – a US$1.02 billion facility in western Singapore.

The center, which will be built in the city-state’s Jurong East district, has been designed with features that will minimize the use of energy, land, and water. It will be powered completely from renewable energy sources, and will be the first such center to implement statepoint liquid cooling technology, which Facebook claims can reduce typical peak water usage in humid climates by as much as 20 percent.

Crucially for crowded Asian cities, the new Facebook data center will be built upwards, rather than outwards, to conserve space – reaching 11 storeys in height. A specially designed, “perforated” outer wall will help to cool the building and encourage air flow.

According to Thomas Furlong, Facebook’s vice president of infrastructure data centers, the facility is expected to be up and running by 2022.

Explaining Facebook’s decision to locate its first Asian data center in Singapore, he said that a combination of “robust infrastructure and access to fiber, a talented local workforce, and a great set of community partners” had won the company over.

Last month, Google announced that it would be spending US$350 million to build a third data center in the city-state. The project will bring the company’s total investment in Singaporean data centers to US$850 million.

Singapore-based AirTrunk – which operates “hyperscale” resource-efficient data centers in Australia – has indicated it could establish a facility in the city-state in the near future. The startup – which closed Southeast Asia’s third-largest fundraising round last year – secured an additional US$621 million in debt and equity funding last month.

Currency converted from Singapore dollar. Rate: US$1 = S$1.37