PDG’s SG3 data centre in Singapore (Image: Princeton Digital Group)
Princeton Digital Group has acquired a Yahoo data centre in western Singapore as the Warburg Pincus-backed platform continues to expand aggressively in the city-state and neighbouring territories.
Known as SG3, the five-megawatt data centre is on the fifth floor of an industrial building at 46 Penjuru Lane near Jurong Port. US tech company Yahoo will continue to host its infrastructure at the facility, with PDG investing further to run the data centre as a third-party operator, the firm said Tuesday in a release.
PDG is paying an undisclosed amount to add the Yahoo facility to its footprint in Singapore, where the firm is based and where it owns and operates an existing 14MW data centre, SG1, in the north-central region’s Tai Seng area. The latest buy also boosts PDG’s Singapore-plus strategy of building a portfolio of data centre campuses across the Lion City, Malaysia’s Johor and Indonesia’s Batam.
“Along with a strategic asset, we gain an important customer in Yahoo and additional capacity to serve PDG’s customers,” said Rangu Salgame, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of PDG. “Through this acquisition, we continue to be in alignment with Singapore’s strategy of unlocking additional data centre capacity by driving greater energy efficiency at existing data centres.”
Strategy Gains Steam
SG3 occupies 14,296 square metres (153,881 square feet) of gross floor area and makes use of thermal cooling technology, according to a fact sheet. The carrier-neutral facility boasts fibre connectivity with the nearby Tuas and Sakra cable landing stations.
PDG co-founder, chairman and CEO Rangu Salgame
PDG accelerated its Singapore-plus plan in July with news that the firm had completed the 52MW initial phase of its 150MW JH1 data centre campus, with that milestone coming less than 14 months after it acquired the development site in Malaysia’s Johor state. Under the strategy PDG is also building a 96MW campus in Batam, the Indonesian island across the Singapore Strait from the city-state.
Founded in 2017 and backed by global investors Warburg Pincus, Mubadala Investment Company and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, PDG has more than 20 data centre projects across 15 cities.
Last month the firm opened its new global headquarters at CapitaLand’s CapitaGreen in downtown Singapore, providing a hub of operations as the firm executes a $5 billion capital programme across the region.
“Six years ago, when we decided to move from New York to Asia, we chose Singapore as our headquarters due to the country’s reputation as a premier business hub,” Salgame said. “Singapore’s strategic location, desirability as a talent magnet and forward-leaning government policies will continue to provide a strong foundation as PDG embarks on its next wave of AI-driven growth.”
Neighbourly Ties
Global investors have launched projects in Johor and Batam as a backdoor alternative to Singapore’s robust but constricted data centre market.
In June, state-backed telcos Singtel and Telekom Malaysia revealed a joint venture to develop Malaysian data centres, starting with a Johor campus with a potential capacity of 200MW. The same month, a data centre unit of tech giant Microsoft agreed to acquire a development site at EcoWorld’s Eco Business Park VI in Johor’s Kulai for MYR 402.3 million ($85.5 million) in cash.
Batam, meanwhile, has drawn the interest of Hong Kong private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners, which is developing a 6MW data centre under a joint venture with a Sinar Mas affiliate, and Shanghai-based GDS, which is teaming with Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund on a 28MW campus. Both projects are in Batam’s 166 hectare (410 acre) Nongsa Digital Park.
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