Facebook announced plans for its first data center in Asia Wednesday. According to a company statement, the $1 billion facility will be built in Singapore, the World Bank’s pick for the top Asian country for business. Facebook’s data center is expected to provide hundreds of jobs.
Standing 11 stories high with 1.8 million square feet, the entire center will be run on 100% renewable energy, like all of Facebook’s data centers. Singapore’s facility will be the first of Facebook’s to use the StatePoint Liquid Cooling system, which is expected to minimize water usage and power consumption. According to Facebook, the new system can reduce the amount of peak water used in climates like Singapore’s by 20%.
Facebook chose Singapore for its “robust infrastructure and access to fiber, a talented local workforce, and a great set of community partners,” the company states, as well as its policies for a “business-friendly environment, including measures that support the enforcement of contracts and increase the ease of construction permitting.” Fortis Construction has been contracted to build the facility.
Facebook’s data centers, which store the company’s massive volume of servers, are located across the United States and in Europe. Its first was in Prineville, Oregon. Now, Facebook is joining other tech giants in Singapore, where Google already has two data centers and plans for a third, CNN reports.