Singapore to transform industrial island into AI-ready datacentre hub

Singapore is set to transform Jurong Island, its petrochemical and energy hub, into a global reference point for sustainable, AI-scale digital infrastructure, according to a newly published report.

The report, Towards 2050: Singapore’s digital-industrial future, jointly developed by Iron Mountain, Baringa, and government agencies JTC Corporation and the Economic Development Board, warned that the collision of global net-zero commitments and the surging compute demands of artificial intelligence (AI) is exposing hard limits on how digital systems can scale.

With global electricity demand from datacentres projected to more than double to roughly 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030, traditional infrastructure models are struggling to keep pace. In land-scarce Singapore, the challenge is particularly acute.

“Globally, the issue isn’t ambition – it’s headroom,” said Michael Goh, vice-president and general manager for Asia-Pacific as well as Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Digital infrastructure is hitting hard limits that are redefining what ‘viable’ looks like.”

To overcome such structural constraints, the report proposes treating land, energy, carbon, and data as a single design space, fundamentally shifting from isolated datacentre builds to deeply integrated, industrial-scale ecosystems.

A key part of Singapore’s 2050 vision for Jurong Island, which is home to over 100 global companies and more than S$60bn (US$47bn) in accumulated investments, is a circular economy approach that pairs digital infrastructure with existing industrial assets. The country has already earmarked nearly 300 hectares on the island for new energy systems, as well as a 20-hectare low-carbon datacentre park projected to host up to 700MW of compute.

One of the most innovative proposals involves tapping into the “cold energy” generated during the regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG). At the Singapore LNG Corporation’s terminal on Jurong Island, LNG arriving at -161°C is warmed using seawater. The report noted how this vast temperature differential can provide a stable, low-carbon cooling source that reduces electricity demand and supports higher‑density compute.

Also, in the works are plans to anchor a massive IT asset lifecycle management (ALM) initiative to manage the growing amount of e-waste generated by frequent AI hardware refresh cycles.

Ming Yow, regional vice-president and managing director of commercial for Asia-Pacific at Iron Mountain, noted that the ALM market in the region is expected to be worth $30bn, with Singapore’s Jurong Island slated to become the region’s first fully integrated IT asset lifecycle ecosystem.