Keppel has recently kicked off construction on a groundbreaking floating data center project in Singapore. This 25MW facility is specifically designed to address the challenges posed by limited land and water resources that typically hinder the development of data centers.
The company unveiled its construction plans in the first-quarter business update for 2026, with construction set to commence on the Keppel DC SGP 9 at its Genting Lane campus in mid-2026.
In Singapore, the allocation of new data center capacity is carefully managed through formal exercises. In December 2025, the Economic Development Board and Infocomm Media Development Authority initiated a second ‘Data Centre – Call for Application’, making a minimum of 200MW of capacity available.
Applicants for this call must adhere to sustainability criteria, including achieving a Green Mark for Data Centres 2024 Platinum certification, maintaining a facility-level power use effectiveness of 1.25 or better at full IT load, and sourcing at least 50% of power from renewable energy sources.
Keppel’s journey towards the floating data center park concept began in 2019 and received regulatory approval in 2023. The project, funded by Keppel Data Centre Fund II, is expected to be operational by 2028.
The design of SGP 9 includes a four-storey, 19.2MW waterborne module and shoreside infrastructure covering approximately 9,870m² of land and 7,580m² of sea surface. The location for this project is slated to be at 25 Loyang Crescent in Singapore.
Keppel’s innovative floating data center concept is engineered for near-shore locations and leverages seawater for cooling, thereby reducing the reliance on potable or industrial water. The modular design allows for floating units to be easily redeployed in different locations.
Additionally, Keppel’s broader digital infrastructure ecosystem, as outlined in their May 2025 investor presentation, includes subsea cables, data centers, power, and related services.
While floating data center projects are still relatively limited on a global scale, a few notable examples include Nautilus Data Technologies’ barge-based facility in California, Denv-R’s containerized data center in France, and various pilot projects in Japan.
(Source: Markus Stickling)
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