> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.techstories.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Singapore's Digital Infrastructure Bill matters more than you think - URL: https://www.techstories.co/singapores-digital-infrastructure-bill-matters-more-than-you-think/ - Published: 2026-09-02T10:28:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-06T02:22:54.000Z - Description: A first read of a bill years in the making. - Author: Paul Mah - Tags: Data Centres, Cloud, Cyber Security, Sustainability Singapore's draft Digital Infrastructure Bill is years in the making. I finally read it, and it matters more than I thought. Here are four things you need to know. First mooted in 2024, the bill for the Digital Infrastructure Act (DIA) was [published](https://www.mddi.gov.sg/newsroom/public-consultation-on-digital-infrastructure-bill/?ref=techstories.co) this July and is expected to be introduced in Parliament soon. Here's my take on this substantive piece of legislation. ### Why a DIA, why now But first, why have a DIA at all? The initial impetus likely came after an [Equinix data centre outage](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/dbs-citibank-service-outage-data-centre-cooling-system-issue-equinix-redone-mobile-3849346?ref=techstories.co) in October 2023 caused widespread banking disruption. Today, digital services play an even more dominant role in daily life: PayNow payments, credit cards used for public transport, mobile apps and kiosks for ordering food, booking a ride. The list goes on. When so much of everyday life runs on digital infrastructure, the case for regulating it becomes hard to ignore. ### Two licences The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will administer two distinct licences: a data centre operator licence and a major foundational Digital Infrastructure (FDI) licence. The data centre operator licence applies to data centres with at least 3MW of IT load. The major FDI licence covers qualifying data centre services delivered from facilities of at least 10MW, or a major cloud computing service generating at least S$100 million a year from Singapore users. It actually took me a while to wrap my head around this, as licensees can fall under both categories. More on that later. A fun fact: Singtel's 20-year-old Bedok Data Centre, which is slated for decommissioning, is 3MW. ### Sustainability baked in One unexpected aspect of the DIA is that it will establish "baseline energy efficiency requirements" for data centres in Singapore. I first wrote about its retroactive nature in February. Under the DIA, licensed data centres will have to meet prescribed sustainability requirements. These span minimum facility-level energy efficiency, IT-equipment energy efficiency that extends to customers, and prescribed water-efficiency requirements. Crucially, IMDA may also impose low-carbon energy commitments as licence conditions, and it has been given teeth to mandate the transfer of eligible international carbon credits where emissions commitments are breached. Serious non-compliance can result in the modification, suspension or revocation of the licence. ### Bigger than licensing The licensing framework, though, is only part of the picture. An easier way to understand the DIA is not to see it solely as a law to license data centres. Instead, it regulates critical digital infrastructure across several fronts: resilience, sustainability, cybersecurity, national security, economic strategy, and ownership and control. On national security grounds, a licence or its renewal may be refused. The DIA is much broader than I expected, and an informal check with some data centre contacts and leaders revealed several concerns. Among them: how broad the law is, its overarching powers, and potential overlaps in licensing. I'll outline them in a follow-up post.