On June 3, Google announced the completion of its latest data center and cloud region campus expansion in Singapore. This milestone brings the company's total investments in technical infrastructure in the country to US$5 billion, up from US$850 million in 2018.
The announcement was made at the "Sustainable Data Centers with Google" event, where Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information of Singapore, Dr. Janil Puthucheary, delivered a speech. More than 500 people work in the Google data centers in Singapore.
"Data centers serve as the growth engines for digital progress by providing the foundation for digital transformation and innovation. The expansion of our data center campus in Singapore reaffirms our commitment to helping Southeast Asian organizations capitalize on digital opportunities while ensuring that growth is as sustainable as possible. Google is deeply committed to managing our environmental footprint, playing a key role in supporting a just climate transition, and helping to accelerate the global transition to a net-zero future," said Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer, Google.
Bolstering Singapore's position as a data center hub for the region
Google data centers are the technical infrastructure that power Google's popular digital services, such as Search, Maps, and Workspace, that billions of people and organizations worldwide, including those in Singapore, use every day. They also play an essential role in enabling Google to deliver the benefits of Al to users and businesses across the country. Singapore is one of the 11 countries where Google has built and currently operates data centers that serve users around the world.
The Singapore cloud region delivers high-performance and low-latency services to large enterprises, startups, and public sector organizations. These Google Cloud customers benefit from key controls that allow them to maintain the highest security, data residency, and compliance standards, including specific data storage requirements. The Singapore cloud region is amongst the 40 regions and 121 zones currently in operation around the world.
This expansion of Google's data center and cloud region infrastructure will help address the growing demand for cloud services locally and around the world. Complementing strategic initiatives that Google has been running in partnership with the Singapore Government, such as AI Trailblazers, Google for Startups Accelerator: AI First Singapore, and Skills Ignition SG, this development affirms the Government's move to establish Singapore as a regional data center hub, while supporting Singapore's National AI Strategy 2.0 and its focus on compute infrastructure to fuel AI-led economic development.
In fact, a Google-commissioned Economic Impact Report by Access Partnership found that Singapore businesses can gain US$147.6 billion in economic benefits measured in terms of cost savings, revenue increments, and productivity gains in 2030 if AI-powered products and solutions are utilized.
Leading from the front with sustainability
Sustainability has been a priority for Google since the company was founded 25 years ago, and this commitment is also reflected in the continued expansion of Google's state-of-the-art data center facilities in Singapore.
Google data centers are equipped with industry-leading sustainable features, ensuring efficient resource management to power even the most demanding applications. This is especially important in tropical climates like Singapore, where cooling measures have to be carefully regulated to avoid energy waste and erosion of data center efficiency.
To achieve this, Google data centers operate at an average temperature of approximately 27°C, ensuring a comfortable working environment for employees and a safe and efficient range for optimal equipment performance. Google data centers in Singapore also feature cooling systems that are specially engineered to reuse recycled water for cooling multiple times, minimizing water intake. Comprehensive water management systems monitor usage around the clock throughout the facilities, and any atypical usage rates trigger immediate alerts to staff, preventing potential water waste.
These design principles and approaches to sustainability enable Google to ensure that the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of its Singapore data centers matches improvements across Google's global fleet, despite the hotter climate in Singapore. Google publishes the PUE of its data centers at the campus level every quarter.
Such sustainability measures also earned Google the 2024 Water Efficiency Award from the Public Utilities Board (PUB), which recognizes top water efficiency performers in their respective sectors.
Google's commitment to sustainability also extends to local communities. A residents' network in the Bukit Batok housing estate is developing an "Eco Pond" supported by Google and the SG Eco Fund. The Eco Pond will harvest rainwater for stormwater management and other communal uses, thereby reducing reliance on potable water supply.
About Google
Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Android, Google Play, Chrome, YouTube, Google Workspace, and Google Cloud, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.
About Google Cloud
Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated, and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.
