Singapore - a small landscape with a large vision for data centres

THE data centre market in the Asia-Pacific is increasingly closely watched by global market players. Although it is young and still finding its feet, the sheer weight of data usage and population growth are making established counterparts such as the US and Europe take notice. Leading the charge is the geographically small but ambitiously large Singapore. This small country is leading some large neighbours in the region in the race to the top in terms of market size. But what lies ahead for Singapore?

A large amount of supply is rushing into an already busy marketplace and some of the neighbouring locations are starting to become more attractive than ever before. Singapore sits at the top of the Asia-Pacific data centre market in terms of capacity, with a current total supply of just under 250 megawatt (MW). A whopping 120MW of new supply is due to hit the market in the next two years. This is no coincidence and is largely due to a number of key drivers in the sector.

Firstly, the political landscape is extremely stable and appealing to the global marketplace, particularly to US players. The Singapore government has recognised this and has made its legislation conducive to new entrants to the market. Local initiatives such as the JTC-led Data Centre Park (in Tanjong Kling) are illustrations of the willingness to encourage large enterprise users and wholesale operators to enter the market with sizable build-to-suit projects.