Google Unveils Third Singapore Data Centre in Jurong, Marks 15 Years in City-State

Google on Tuesday announced the start of operations at its third data centre in Singapore, a multi-storey development in Jurong, as part of festivities celebrating 15 years of the US tech giant’s presence in the city-state.

The power-up of the server-hosting site in the country’s western region brings Google’s long-term investment in Singapore data centres to $850 million, following the launch of two previous data centres announced in 2011 and 2015, the company said in a blog post on its own website.

At an event dubbed “Google for Singapore”, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told the assembled guests that the search engine champ had progressively invested in infrastructure in the Southeast Asian powerhouse, which also hosts Google’s Asia Pacific headquarters.

“You’ve made Singapore your home in Asia, serving businesses and users in the region and across the world, and you have grown your presence here considerably, now to 3,000 employees,” Wong said.

Humble Beginnings

Founded in 1998 in California’s Silicon Valley, Google opened its first office in Southeast Asia at Singapore’s Collyer Quay in 2007 with 24 employees.

In 2016, Google relocated its Asia Pacific headquarters to the second phase of Mapletree Business City in the Pasir Panjang area, taking up 680,000 square feet (63,174 square metres), or 57 percent of the overall net lettable area at the development.

Mapletree Commercial Trust acquired the four-building Mapletree Business City II in 2019 from its sponsor, Temasek-controlled Mapletree Investments, for S$1.55 billion ($1.14 billion). Google also leases 344,000 square feet of office space at Frasers Commercial Trust’s Alexandra Technopark next door to Mapletree Business City.

No specifications or power consumption figures have been disclosed for Google’s trio of data centres in Singapore. Perhaps mindful of its energy footprint in the microstate, the company on Tuesday pledged $1 million to Singapore-based Mandai Nature to help the wildlife conservation body invest in climate solutions that benefit nature and the people of Southeast Asia.

“Singapore is a regional hub for our network of data centres, cloud regions and subsea cables, which connect the country to the rest of the region and the world, give people access to fast internet and help businesses transform,” the company said.

Tech Giants Settle In

One of Google’s best-known compatriots, social media titan Facebook, made its own Singapore splash in 2019 by choosing Jurong East as the site of its first billion-dollar data centre in Asia.

Scheduled to open this year, Facebook’s 11-storey, 170,000 square metre structure stands not far from Google’s own server barns in Jurong West.

Data centre operators eager to serve Singapore’s growing tech sector received some good news in July when the government formally reopened applications for the energy-hungry facilities after a three-year hiatus.

The city-state’s Economic Development Board and Infocomm Media Development Authority are accepting applications for new data centre development projects until 21 November, while setting out guidelines aimed at restricting power consumption and limiting environmental impact.