NUS and NTU launch first-of-its-kind tropical data centre test bed

(Credit: Facebook)

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and NTU Singapore have established a new S$23 million research programme to develop innovative and sustainable cooling solutions for data centres located in tropical locations.

Together with key stakeholders in Singapore’s data centre industry, researchers from both universities will be creating and demonstrating advanced cooling technologies at a state-of-the-art testbed facility, which will be set up in NUS.

Named the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT) – the first of its kind in the tropics – it will serve as an innovation hub for the academia and industry to work together to future-proof the region’s data centre industry.

This research programme is jointly funded by the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF), and anchor industry partner Facebook. The research is led by NUS and NTU, and supported by Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Five other industry partners involved are Ascenix Pte Ltd, CoolestDC Pte Ltd, Keppel Data Centres, New Media Express Pte Ltd, and Red Dot Analytics Pte Ltd.

NTU’s Senior Vice President (Research) Professor Lam Khin Yong, said, “Data centres are the backbone of Singapore's national digital transformation, and there is a need to improve their energy efficiency and sustainability as we continue to grow as a data centre hub.”

“On the NTU Smart Campus, our scientists have pioneered award-winning Artificial Intelligence technologies to tackle these challenges as part of the NTU 2025 strategic plan and will adapt them for trials at the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed.”