Artist impression of Facebook’s first Asian Data Centre in Singapore with an expected completion date of 2022.
Facebook has unveiled plans to invest S$1.4 billion in the construction of a data centre in Singapore, the first in Asia for the social media giant.
Specifically, the 11-story and 170,000 sqm centre will support hundreds of jobs upon completion.
The planned facility will be located in Jurong East at Tanjong Kling (formerly known as Data Centre Park) and will form part of its growing presence in Singapore and across the region.
"This will be our first data centre in Asia," said Thomas Furlong, vice president of infrastructure data centres at Facebook. "The data centre isn't country specific to where users are located... it's a dynamic process."
This is just the latest move by an American internet giant to open a data centre in Singapore with Google announcing recently it plans a third data centre, located at Jurong West, to ready by 2020.
Facebook will work with Fortis Construction on the centre’s construction who will act as its general contractor due to its experience in building efficient data centres.
The centre will be the first in Asia and the 15th globally with an expected completion date of 2022.
Singapore was chosen primarily because if its robust infrastructure, access to fibre, a talented local workforce, and support from government agencies including JTC and the Economic Development Board of Singapore.
The centre is expected to the first data centre in Singapore to incorporate a new StatePoint Liquid Colling system that is supposed to minimise water and power consumption, which can reduce the amount of groundwater used in climates like Singapore by 20 per cent.
Other energy efficient features include the 11-story building’s facade that will be made from a perforated lightweight material that allows for efficient air flow.
