At the groundbreaking ceremony for Google’s new data centre in Singapore: (From left) Mr Julian Persaud, Mr Simon Chang and Director of Google Community Affairs Global Mr Matt Dunne.

Search technology giant Google is investing up to US$120 million on a Singapore data centre to meet the rapidly growing demand for such facilities in the country and across the region. The facility, located at a 2.45-hectare site in Jurong West, is expected to be completed in early 2013.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony on 15 December 2011, Mr Jayson Goh, Executive Director of the Economic Development Board (EDB), said Google’s decision to build its first data centre in Southeast Asia in Singapore further expands its investment in the country, where it already maintains its regional headquarters, and complements Singapore’s efforts to turn itself into a global data management hub.

He noted that with a total space of more than 2.3 million square  feet, Singapore currently hosts about 50 per cent of Southeast Asia’s data centre capacity. “The presence of data centres here allows Singapore to play host to the content and services of large global enterprises, including financial institutions, Internet and media companies. These companies choose Singapore because of our reputation as a trusted location for data hosting, management and analytics,” he said.

In a statement, Google said when operational, the facility will provide jobs for a small team of full time staff as well as a number of contractors in a variety of roles including computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers and catering and security staff.  It is currently working to finalise its staffing needs and to hire the leadership team for the facility.

The Google facility is also designed to be one of the most power-efficient in the region.  Mr David Tan, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of JTC, noted that this is in line with Singapore’s move towards land intensification and environmental sustainability, and sets a benchmark for data centre developments in Singapore, he said.

According to Mr Simon Chang, Director of Google’s Hardware Operations in Asia, each element of the facility is being custom-designed to operate at optimal efficiency. An example is the move to maximise the use of free cooling instead of chillers. “These and other efforts have helped us to reduce energy consumption by 50 per cent across our facilities compared to the typical data centre,” said Mr Chang.

Mr Julian Persaud, Head of Google Southeast Asia, said building this first data centre in Southeast Asia is an exciting step and an important investment towards better serving Google’s users across the region. “More new users are coming online every day in Asia than anywhere else in the world. They are looking for information and entertainment, new business opportunities and better ways to connect with friends and family, near and far. We’re building to provide our users here with the fastest and most reliable possible access to all our services, so they can do just that.”