Johnson Controls joins Singapore's tropical data centre testbed to cut AI power and water use

Johnson Controls has joined the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed 2.0 at the National University of Singapore, a live research programme on Jurong Island that tests AI and data centre technologies under real tropical conditions. The company will contribute thermal management, controls, and engineering expertise to help reduce power and water consumption while increasing computing capacity. The project is part of Singapore's broader push to expand low-carbon digital infrastructure, including a recent 200 MW allocation for new data centres. The collaboration focuses on addressing the biggest constraints to AI growth: power availability, water use, and space. Johnson Controls says its integrated cooling approach can cut non-IT energy use by up to 50% compared with conventional methods. In a reference design for a 1 GW data centre, the company claims it could convert waste heat from on-site generation into cooling, adding up to 97 MW of computing capacity while cutting cooling-related electricity demand by 44%. The testbed will validate these approaches in a real operating environment, with results expected to inform data centre designs across Singapore and other tropical markets.