Johnson Controls, a global sustainable buildings firm, announced Monday the expansion of its Innovation Center in Singapore with a five years investment of up to $60 million, marking a key milestone in its commitment to accelerating sustainable data center solutions across Asia Pacific.

The firm said in a statement that the move responds to the surging demand for high-efficiency thermal management technologies as artificial intelligence (AI) adoption drives unprecedented growth in hyperscale deployments and energy requirements in the region.

According to the statement, across Asia Pacific, data center capacity is set for significant expansion as organizations step up investments to support rapid AI and cloud-led digitalization.

The region captures around 30 percent of global data center capacity.

In Singapore, data centers account for an estimated 7 percent of national energy consumption, a share that is expected to rise to 12 percent by 2030.

These trends are sharpening the focus on next-generation cooling and energy-efficient infrastructure.

To support this growth, Johnson Controls will invest up to $60 million in the Innovation Centre over the next five years and expand its engineering teams to 90-100 roles in the same timeframe.

The investment will deepen the company’s expertise in thermal management and advanced cooling strategies, accelerate the development of next-generation cooling prototypes through ecosystem partnerships, and strengthen
smart connectivity and digitalization.

Together, these capabilities will help to enable more intelligent, secure and resilient operations for future-ready data centers, improving efficiency, sustainability and
uptime across the asset lifecycle.

“Johnson Controls’ latest expansion of its innovation center adds new capabilities and jobs in sustainable building solutions in Singapore, for which data center is a key growth area,

“It reflects the company’s continued confidence in Singapore as a leading innovation hub, where industry players can leverage Singapore’s strong talent base to develop and scale innovative solutions to support the region’s growing demand,” said Cindy Koh, Executive Vice President, Singapore Economic Development Board.

Meanwhile, Anu Rathninde, President, Asia Pacific, Johnson Controls, said as AI workloads surge and data centers demand more energy, sustainability has become an imperative.

“The expansion of our Innovation Center in Singapore is key in helping hyperscalers and colocation providers achieve their carbon reduction goals while ensuring performance and consistency at scale,

“It also underscores our long-term investment in Singapore as a cornerstone of our APAC strategy, leveraging the nation’s innovation ecosystem as the ideal hub for leading these advancements across ASEAN,” he added.

With a global legacy of over 140 years and more than four decades of successful partnerships in Singapore, Johnson Controls said the firm is shaping the next wave of sustainable and digital infrastructure through its expanded Innovation Center.

It continues to advance sustainability more broadly through its OpenBlue digital platform for intelligent building management and predictive analytics, alongside its cooling-as-a-service model that guarantees energy performance and financial flexibility.

Over the past year, Johnson Controls has collaborated with Singapore’s leading higher learning institutions and commercial partners to deliver proof-of-concept projects driving digitalization and cooling optimization.

These initiatives have validated prototype benchmarks and reinforced Singapore’s Green Building Masterplan and Smart Facility Management goals.

AI spurs data storage demand with Singapore leading the region: Seagate