DayOne, a Singapore-headquartered global data center developer and operator, and Cortical Labs, a biological computing startup in Melbourne, will collaborate to build Singapore’s first biological data center, a first of its kind outside of Australia, the company said in a press release today. Under the partnership, DayOne will provide capital and strategic input while Cortical Labs, together with Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS), will develop a prototype wetware computing platform. Cortical Labs expects to commence with an initial deployment at the NUS, comprising a single rack of 20 Cortical Cloud units.
A bio data center is a computing facility that utilises “wetware”- living biological neurons grown from stem cells, instead of traditional silicon chips, to process information and power AI systems. Unlike standard data centers that rely on energy-intensive servers, a bio data center harnesses the natural efficiency of brain-like organoids, which can function on a fraction of the wattage required by digital computers.
Cortical Labs recently announced the launch of the world’s first Bio Data Center prototype in Melbourne. DayOne and Cortical Labs will jointly work on site design and operational planning, focusing initially on performance and efficiency benchmarking for wetware-based compute systems. They will identify governance, biosafety and compliance frameworks, along with potential collaborations with other research institutions and industry partners.
“Singapore is raising the bar for sustainable data center growth, and the market is responding with new approaches, beyond just bigger builds,” said Jamie Khoo, CEO of DayOne. “Partnering with Cortical Labs allows us to explore a new compute paradigm that complements Singapore’s and the region’s sustainability-led trajectory, supporting continued innovation while staying aligned to evolving efficiency and greener-energy expectations.”
The collaboration entails live deployment in a DayOne data center facility in Singapore, where the platform will be tested under real-world load conditions supporting neuro-inspired AI research, biomedical modelling and other healthcare use cases. The parties are exploring a phased expansion that could potentially reach up to 1,000 units deployed within a DayOne facility in Singapore.
“Singapore has made it clear that the next chapter of digital infrastructure must be built with sustainability at the core,” said Hon Weng Chong, Founder & CEO, Cortical Labs. “AI is moving from novelty to necessity across every sector, but the region’s energy and water realities are forcing a reckoning. This partnership is about giving policymakers and industry a practical alternative: a sustainable pathway to AI adoption that aims to decouple compute growth from a resource footprint.”
A key aim of the Singapore Bio Data Center will be to support research and innovation pathways – from drug discovery and biomedical science to energy optimisation and advanced AI applications. This involves leveraging on NUS Medicine’s deep expertise in neurobiology research for the prototype biodata center. Under the supervision of Professor Rickie Patani, who is both a Professor of Neuroscience at NUS Medicine and the Director of the Neurobiology Programme at NUS Life Sciences Institute, cells will be cultured and grown in NUS Life Sciences Institute.
“Wetware systems can help researchers explore new approaches to learning, adaptation and biological modelling. Our expertise in neurobiology research provides a strong foundation for translating these biological principles into biocomputing platforms. The ability to run experiments on brain-like biological networks alongside conventional computing could shorten cycles from laboratory insight to meaningful real-world impact,” the academic explained.
Singapore recently made available at least 200MW of new capacity in DC-CFA-2, while reinforcing higher standards for energy efficiency and greener energy pathways under the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Green Data Center Roadmap.
The statement also cited research papers saying global data center capacity could reach 200 GW by 2030 while Southeast Asian data-center power demand could quadruple from 2.6GW (2025) to 10.7GW (2035) .