Singapore: A rising data centre hub in Asia Pacific

Singapore ranks as the sixth most established data centre market in the Asia Pacific, poised to reach the 1-gigawatt (GW) operational capacity milestone in 2024. This positions Singapore just behind Jakarta, Indonesia and ahead of Johor, Malaysia. Tokyo leads the rankings, followed by Mumbai.

Despite facing high property and construction costs, as well as regulatory and land availability challenges, Singapore remains a desirable location for data centres due to its strategic regional and global connectivity and robust infrastructure. The city-state boasts the lowest colocation vacancy rate in the region at 1%, indicating that demand far exceeds supply.

Cushman & Wakefield highlights that Singapore’s development projects are nearing completion, setting the stage for it to join other major markets such as mainland China, Japan, Australia and India, which have already surpassed the 1GW capacity milestone.

However, Fitch Solutions notes that despite the government’s new roadmap, Singapore may struggle to attract large-scale data centre investments. This has led some investors to consider emerging markets like Batam and Johor Bahru.

Overall, the Asia Pacific region currently has 10.6 GW of operational capacity, with an additional 13.3 GW expected within the next five to seven years, underscoring the significant growth potential in the data centre sector.