Singapore signals mandatory PUE standards for all data centres
The upcoming Digital Infrastructure Act will impose energy efficiency requirements on both existing and new facilities.
Singapore says it will impose PUE requirements on both old and new data centres with the upcoming Digital Infrastructure Act (DIA).
Speaking at the launch of a Centre of Excellence for Applied AI by Singtel's Digital InfraCo and Nvidia this morning, Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How made two key announcements.
Digital Infrastructure Act coming
The Digital Infrastructure Act, designed to enhance the security and resilience of critical digital infrastructure such as data centres, will be tabled in parliament later this year.
First mentioned in January 2024, the DIA was originally scheduled to be introduced last year. It is not known why this was pushed back, though my personal speculation is that the DIA was meant to come after the DC-CFA2, which only kicked off in December 2025.
Another possibility could be the complexity of the legislation, or that Singapore's critical infrastructure coming under state-sponsored cyberattacks last year could have resulted in changes or new provisions being added. Regardless, it sounds like the DIA will be passed into law soon.
Baseline energy efficiency
One new revelation is that the DIA will also seek to establish "baseline energy efficiency requirements" for data centres in Singapore. This includes both existing and new facilities, which will see the imposition of PUE requirements, though no PUE figures were mentioned this morning.
In his speech, the minister also alluded to the systematic raising of the "energy efficiency and sustainability" of all data centres in Singapore to create "more headroom" to support growing digital demands.
Sustainability play
As a regional data centre hub, Singapore has a plan to build a green energy hub and unlock sustainable data centre growth.
It is worth noting that the IMDA-BCA Green Mark for Data Centres 2024 standard imposes tighter requirements on how PUE is measured. This means operators should probably not count on being able to evade this requirement through creative accounting.
I'll share more about the DIA when I learn more about it.
