BW Digital is to land its upcoming subsea cable linking Singapore and Indonesia in a Digital Realty facility.

Under the agreement, the companies will jointly support the rollout of BW Digital’s Nongsa Changi Cable System (NCC), integrating with Digital Realty’s SIN12 data center in Singapore.

First announced last year in partnership with Telin, the Nongsa-Changi is set to land in the Nongsa Digital Park in Batam, Indonesia, and Changi in East Singapore. The 24-fiber-pair system is set to go live in late 2025.

In Batam, the cable is set to land in BW Digital’s in-development NDP1 facility.

Virginie Frouin, chief business officer, BW Digital, said: “This partnership represents a major milestone for BW Digital, aligning with our mission to support digital transformation by bridging the gap between submarine cable infrastructure and land-based digital platforms in a way that is efficient, secure, and future-ready.”

“We are hoping to enable AI workloads, provide reliable, secure connectivity between Singapore and Batam, support for rising demand in cross-border data exchange, and ongoing collaboration with Digital Realty to empower customers with greater interconnection flexibility.”

Serene Nah, managing director and head of Asia Pacific, Digital Realty, added: “Subsea networks are central to Southeast Asia’s digital economy, and Singapore continues to serve as a critical gateway for regional data exchange. By integrating BW Digital’s Nongsa–Changi system into SIN12, we are working to deliver faster and more resilient connectivity to support customers as they scale next-generation workloads."

Batam is the largest city in the Riau Islands and is located close to Singapore, on the opposite side of the Singapore Strait. Though easing, Singapore’s ongoing data center moratorium means developments are spilling over to nearby Johor north of the border in Malaysia, and south to Batam.

Nongsa Park, developed by Citramas Group, has been granted special economic zone (SEZ) status, which provides beneficial tax tariffs. Singtel, Gaw, PDG, BW Digital, and GDS are developing facilities in Nongsa Park.

BW Digital owns and operates the Hawaiki subsea cable linking New Zealand and Australia to the US. The system was launched in 2018 by Hawaiki, which was acquired by BW Digital in May 2022. The firm is also developing an 144MW data center in Batam that was topped off in October.

Batam and Singapore are currently connected by the BSCS, B2JS, B3JS, IGG, Matrix, MIC-1, PGASCOM, SEAX-1, and TIS cables. The upcoming Apricot, Asia Connect Cable-1 (ACC-1), and Hawaiki Nui 1 systems are all also set to connect the city-state with the Indonesian city. The Nongsa-Changi cable, however, is to be the first to land in the Nongsa Digital Park.

BW Digital is the digital infrastructure arm of BW Group, a maritime and shipping conglomerate. The group also owns BW ESS, a global Battery Energy Storage (BESS) owner and operator with more than 500MWh of operational BESS projects.