Keppel has started construction on its floating data center project in Singapore.

As part of its Q1 2026 earnings update, the company said it had begun construction of the Floating Data Centre project.

Keppel first started exploring the idea of building its own floating data center park (FDCP) in 2019 and secured regulatory approval for the project in 2023.

According to the company’s 2025 annual report, the 25MW project, funded by Keppel Data Centre Fund II and committed to a global hyperscaler, will go live in 2028.

The 'first-of-its-kind' project “demonstrates a practical and scalable approach to addressing land, energy, and water constraints often faced by data centers,” according to the annual report.

According to a 2025 Keppel environment report, the proposed modular floating data center development comprises a four-story, 19.2MW waterborne module and shoreside infrastructure, occupying approximately 9,870 sqm (106,240 sq ft) of land and 7,580 sqm (81,590 sq ft) of sea space. It would be cooled via seawater.

The project is set to be hosted at 25 Loyang Crescent in Singapore. The industrial site was previously owned by oil company Toll, but is being sold to real estate firm CapitaLand. Both CapitaLand and Keppel count Singaporean wealth fund Temasek as a major investor.

Several companies have explored the floating data center concept.

Founded in 2014, US-based Nautilus Data Technologies built a 6.5MW, 20,000 sq ft (1,860 sqm) data center on a floating barge in Stockton, California. Launched in 2021, the company put the project up for sale at $45m in November 2024 after pivoting from offering capacity to focusing on cooling infrastructure.

French startup Denv-R has placed a small containerized data center on a floating platform in Nantes.

Earlier this year, a consortium of Japanese companies announced a pilot project to deploy an offshore floating data center off the coast of Yokohama, Japan. The containerized data center will be installed on a float alongside solar and battery storage facilities, which will be used to power it.

Japanese shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has partnered with Kinetics, an energy systems provider, and Hitachi to develop a floating data center platform.

Google filed a patent in 2008 proposing data centers on boats moored out at sea that would utilize wave energy for power and seawater for cooling. It is yet to deploy any waterborne facilities, however.

Keppel to start work on SGP 9 in the summer

Keppel also said it aims to begin construction of Keppel DC SGP 9 in Singapore in mid-2026. The company secured an extended land use for the project, its third at the Keppel Data Centre Campus at Genting Lane, earlier this year.

Completed in early 2025, KDC SGP 7 totals 186,610 sq ft (17,336 sqm) across seven stories. The eight-story KDC SGP 8 totals 290,040 sq ft (26,945 sqm), and was also completed early last year.