Facebook to build first Asian data center in Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) said on Thursday it will invest more than $1 billion to build its first data centre in Asia in Singapore, slated to open in 2022.

The logo of Facebook is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

Facebook’s facility will be located in the west of the island, near where Google (GOOGL.O) is expanding its Singapore data centres in an $850 million investment as mobile growth, e-commerce and cloud computing demand rise across the region.

“This will be our first data centre in Asia,” Thomas Furlong, Facebook’s vice president of infrastructure data centres, said at a press conference with local authorities in Singapore.

He said the facility was expected to open in 2022 depending on the speed of construction.

Facebook said in a statement the 170,000 square metre facility represented an investment of more than S$1.4 billion ($1 billion) and would support hundreds of jobs.

Facebook has a number of data centres in the United States as well as Ireland and Sweden, and it is building a facility in Denmark.

“The data centre isn’t country specific to where users are located...it’s a dynamic process,” said Furlong.

Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Stephen Coates and Darren Schuettler

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