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How Singapore Dominates Southeast Asia's Internet Infrastructure

January 11, 2026

Singapore is the de-facto internet infrastructure leader in Southeast Asia this much is not up to debate. Have you ever wondered how they were able to perform such a feat despite the small land footprint?

Let us 🌮 about it.

For a data center to run we need 3 ingredients: space, cooling, and connection. Let’s examine how Singapore solves each problem.

Space

Singapore’s land area is **728 km **1 (the size of Jakarta Pusat + Jakarta Selatan for you Indos reading), and the data centers are located in over 70 facilities occupying prime real estate.2 Singapore simply has no more land to put servers whether horizontally or vertically, so when the demand kept growing in 2019 they took a decision for survival: no new data centers will be built in Singaporean land.3

I say survival because at that time 7% of Singapore’s total electricity was used to power the data centers, and that’s electricity they don’t have.4 Did you know that Singapore imports 95% of their energy?5

Sure, the decision was lifted in 2022, and Singapore is open for future developments6 but where else can Singapore build?

The answer: Batam, Indonesia.

Nongsa Digital Park is situated a mere 20km away with a latency of under 2 milliseconds via submarine cables.7 This data center park is aspired to grow up to over 1,000 Megawatts in the near future. Nongsa Digital Park was established in 2018 as a Special Economic Zone8 clearly as a response to the anticipated moratorium and of course it has sold out on long term commitments now.9

For 1 hectare of data center site it costs USD $22-40 million in Singapore, yet in Batam it’s USD $300-500k.10

That’s 44-80x cheaper.

For the same money Singapore would spend on 1 hectare, they could buy 44-80 hectares in Batam. If you’re Singapore, you’d build in Batam too.

Cooling

A generic 1kWh of electricity requires 2 liters of water for cooling, otherwise it burns.11 Singapore as of 2020 consumes 7% of its entire country’s electricity which is 3.4 TWh (that’s a whopping 8 zeroes from TWh to kWh), thus it uses around 6.8 billion liters annually.12

Trivia: Singapore has no natural freshwater resources. Zero rivers, zero natural aquifers. Singapore imports half its water from Malaysia, and the rest it gets from processing seawater and wastewater (I wish I was joking).13

Look up ‘1962 Singapore Water Agreement’ to see that Singapore draws 250 MILLION GALLONS PER DAY from Johor River at the price of 3 MALAYSIAN RINGGIT CENTS PER 1,000 GALLONS.14

In USD that’s $0.007 - or as I like to call it, “basically free.” I kept it in ringgit because at least then there’s a number you can see without squinting.

This water agreement was signed for a duration of 99 years with no price adjustment despite the change in currency values.15

More reading material if you’re into it: Look up who owns Johor River Waterworks.

(Spoiler: it’s operated by Singapore. On Malaysian soil.)16

Connection

This might have been the only thing that Singapore did not exploit from its surrounding. What we know is Singapore became the hub of Southeast Asia because it is geographically in a goldilocks position, but in reality Batam and Johor are just 20km to either side. So how did Singapore become the central hub?

The need to build the undersea cable infrastructure happened when Indonesia and Malaysia were unstable, post-independence. Singapore post British colonialism was superior in many ways and it had means and capital to maintain their position as regional port. Singapore spoke the language, had the money, and Lee Kuan Yew knew that this was the future so he poured capital in.17

The monopoly wasn’t geography - it was governance, capital, and timing. British colonial infrastructure + Lee Kuan Yew’s vision + neighbors dealing with post-independence chaos.

Once Singapore was ahead all they had to do was just maintain the lead now nobody can catch up and everything we build will just become secondary (ahem Malaysia’s Cyberjaya and Indonesia’s Batam SEZ).

Singapore today has 24 submarine cables landing in the city-state, connecting to over 50 countries and carrying a major portion of Asia-Pacific internet traffic.18

The Conclusion

Going back to our original question: how did Singapore dominate the internet infrastructure in Southeast Asia region?

They started really well with the undersea cable, thus making them the center of the region’s connectivity. Once they established that, the rest is just to exploit the neighbors.

Batam’s data centers? Powered by Indonesian electricity, serving Singapore’s customers, financed by Singapore’s banks.19

Malaysia’s water? Extracted at 1962 prices, treated by Singapore, sold back at 10x markup.20

The cables? All route through Singapore.

Singapore’s data center industry generates $1.4 billion annually from a population of 5 million.21

Batam’s data centers? The electricity bill (and environmental cost) stay in Indonesia. The profits go to Singapore-based companies and their hyperscale customers.

Singapore didn’t just become the hub. They made sure everywhere else would stay a spoke.

References

Footnotes

  1. Singapore’s total land area is 728 km as of 2024. Source: Singapore Department of Statistics. ↩

  2. As of 2020-2021, Singapore had over 70 operational data centers with approximately 1 GW of IT capacity. Source: Multiple industry reports including DCD Intelligence and CBRE Data Center Trends. ↩

  3. Singapore imposed a moratorium on new data center developments in 2019 due to power and land constraints. Source: “Singapore lifts data center moratorium - but sets conditions,” Data Center Dynamics, January 12, 2022. ↩

  4. Data centers accounted for approximately 7% of Singapore’s total electricity consumption in 2020 (3.4 TWh). Source: Singapore Economic Development Board and Ministry of Trade and Industry statements, 2022. ↩

  5. Singapore imports approximately 95% of its energy, primarily natural gas via pipeline from Malaysia and Indonesia, and LNG imports. Source: “Natural Gas & Energy In Singapore,” ANGE Association, December 8, 2025; Singapore Energy Market Authority. ↩

  6. The moratorium was lifted in January 2022 with strict sustainability conditions. Initial approvals of 80 MW were granted to Microsoft, Equinix, GDS, and AirTrunk-ByteDance consortium. Source: “Singapore lifts data center moratorium - but sets conditions,” Data Center Dynamics, January 12, 2022. ↩

  7. Batam is located approximately 20 kilometers from Singapore with sub-2 millisecond latency via 12 submarine cables. Source: “Golden Digital Gateway: Indonesia’s Data Centre Potential,” Data Centre Magazine, September 8, 2025. ↩

  8. Nongsa Digital Park was established as a Special Economic Zone in 2018 as part of the Indonesia-Singapore bilateral cooperation to create a “digital bridge.” Source: Multiple reports including “Indonesia Bets on Batam to Challenge Singapore’s Data Center Dominance,” Jakarta Globe, July 28, 2025. ↩

  9. Indonesia’s Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto stated in July 2025 that “The Batam digital zone has already sold out. Global players like Google, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle have secured their spots.” Source: “Indonesia Bets on Batam to Challenge Singapore’s Data Center Dominance,” Jakarta Globe, July 28, 2025. ↩

  10. Industrial land prices in Singapore for data centers range from SGD $280-500+ per square foot (USD $210-375/sq ft), translating to approximately USD $22-40 million per hectare. Batam SEZ industrial land costs approximately USD $30-50 per square meter (USD $2.8-4.6/sq ft), or USD $300,000-500,000 per hectare. Source: Industry analysis and real estate reports from CBRE, JLL, and regional property data. ↩

  11. Data center cooling typically requires approximately 2 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of electricity for evaporative cooling systems. Source: “Data Centers and Water Consumption,” Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). ↩

  12. Based on Singapore’s 2020 data center electricity consumption of 3.4 TWh (7% of national total) and the 2L/kWh cooling ratio, estimated annual water consumption is approximately 6.8 billion liters for direct cooling. Source: Calculation based on Singapore EMA data and EESI cooling estimates. ↩

  13. Singapore has no natural freshwater resources. The country’s “Four National Taps” consist of: imported water from Malaysia (~50%), NEWater recycled water (~40%), desalination (~10%), and minimal local catchment. Source: Singapore Public Utilities Board (PUB) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ↩

  14. The 1962 Johor River Water Agreement stipulates that Singapore can draw up to 250 million gallons per day from the Johor River at a price of 3 sen (Malaysian cents) per 1,000 gallons. Source: “Water Agreements,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore; “Singapore-Malaysia water agreements,” National Library Board Singapore. ↩

  15. The 1962 Water Agreement is valid for 99 years (expiring in 2061) with the price fixed at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons with no adjustment clause despite currency fluctuations and inflation over 60+ years. Source: “Water Agreements,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore. ↩

  16. Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) operates the Johor River Waterworks located near Kota Tinggi in Johor, Malaysia. Singapore also funded the construction of Linggiu Dam (over S$300 million) in 1990, which is owned by Malaysia but built and maintained by Singapore to regulate water flow for Singapore’s extraction. Source: “Water Agreements,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore. ↩

  17. Singapore’s submarine cable infrastructure development began in earnest during the 1980s-1990s when major cables like SeaMeWe-1 (1986) and SeaMeWe-2 (1994) were laid. This coincided with post-independence instability in Indonesia (Sukarno era, 1997 Asian Financial Crisis) and Malaysia’s early nation-building phase. Lee Kuan Yew’s government prioritized telecommunications infrastructure as strategic. Source: Historical analysis from multiple telecommunications industry reports and Singapore’s development history. ↩

  18. As of 2024-2025, Singapore has 24 submarine cables landing in the city-state, connecting to over 50 countries. Source: Multiple industry sources including TeleGeography, “Regional grids key to Singapore’s energy future,” Ember, October 2, 2024. ↩

  19. The DayOne-INA data center campus in Batam received $411 million financing from Singapore banks DBS and UOB. The project serves Singapore market connectivity needs with sub-2ms latency while using Indonesian electricity. Source: “DBS, UOB fund $413M data center campus by DayOne-INA in Indonesia,” TN Global, June 5, 2025. ↩

  20. Under the 1962 Water Agreement, Singapore pays 3 sen per 1,000 gallons for raw water and sells treated water back to Malaysia at 50 sen per 1,000 gallons - a 16.7x markup (often rounded to “10x” colloquially). Source: “Water Agreements,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore. ↩

  21. Singapore’s data center market generates approximately $1.4 billion in annual revenue. Source: Industry reports from Structure Research and CBRE Data Center Solutions, referencing Singapore’s position as the 5th largest data center market globally with approximately 1 GW operational capacity serving a population of approximately 5.9 million (2024). ↩

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