Equinix has partnered with the National University of Singapore to establish a Co-Innovation Facility (CIF) to focus on sustainable solutions for the data center sector.
The CIF will be in Equinix’s SG6 data center in Singapore, which is currently under construction. The facility will act as an open research space to foster collaboration among technology innovators, data center partners, academia, and customers in developing solutions to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability.
CIF will incorporate various technologies, including liquid cooling and cognitive digital twins, to test their viability in data centers.
In addition, the CIF will trial various alternative power generation technologies, including fuel cells and battery storage. It will also explore deploying direct current power distribution systems to integrate renewable energy sources with data center power.
Yee May Leong, managing director of Equinix Singapore, stated: “It will accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies and apply real-world solutions to help reduce the carbon footprint of the growing number of data centers worldwide."
Equinix has committed an initial investment of $4 million to kickstart the project. Equinix and the National University of Singapore have previously collaborated on several sustainability initiatives, including studying hydrogen-based green fuel technologies for data centers.
Equinix has a robust data center portfolio in Singapore. Earlier this month, it broke ground on the SG6 data center, where the CIF will be located. Expected to open in Q1 2027, the nine-story facility will offer 20MW. It is one of the first facilities given the green light as part of a relaxation of a years-long moratorium on new data center capacity in the city-state.
The announcement follows Equinix’s latest green bond offering. The data center firm issued €1.15 billion ($1.2bn) in green bonds and intends to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds from the green bonds to finance or refinance all or part of recently completed or future eligible green projects.
