INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY
DATA CENTRES
DayOne launches Singapore’ s first biological data centre prototype
DayOne Data Centers(‘ DayOne’), a Singapore-headquartered global digital infrastructure platform, has launched Singapore’ s first Biological Data Centre Prototype in collaboration with Cortical Labs and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore(‘ NUS Medicine’). The milestone advances the development of biological computing as a potentially more adaptive and energy-efficient complement to conventional siliconbased infrastructure.
The prototype was launched in the presence of the public sector, representatives from academia, the technology and digital infrastructure sectors. Delegates viewed a live demonstration of Cortical Labs’ CL1 biological computing system and toured the NUS laboratory supporting the initiative.
The initiative offers a practical, sustainability-aligned alternative to conventional silicon infrastructure in Singapore through wetware-based computing, at a moment when the country and the broader region is expanding AI capacity under tighter energy and environmental guardrails. silicon hardware to process information. The neurons receive electrical signals, respond and adapt over time, enabling the system to perform certain computing tasks on a fraction of the wattage required by digital computers.
The initiative draws on NUS Medicine’ s neurobiology expertise, Cortical Labs’ technology and DayOne’ s experience in designing, building and operating mission-critical digital infrastructure. Areas of exploration include neuro-inspired AI, biomedical modelling, drug discovery and neurological disease research.
“ Our commitment to Singapore goes beyond capacity. We are here to help shape what the next generation of digital infrastructure looks like and that means investing in approaches that meet Singapore’ s sustainability ambitions alongside its AI ambitions. This prototype is a step towards demonstrating that scaling compute and reducing resource intensity are goals we can pursue together,” said Jamie Khoo, Chief
Executive Officer of DayOne.“ Singapore has the research depth, infrastructure capability and collaborative ecosystem to lead that exploration. We are proud to contribute to translating frontier scientific research into practical impact, with worldclass partners, in one of the world’ s most sustainability-driven markets.”
“ The establishment of this prototype shifts the conversation from research to commercial application,” said Hon Weng Chong, Founder and CEO, Cortical Labs.“ Biological computing supplements AI in areas where data is sparse, learning from far less and adapting as conditions change. Our aim is to uncover the use cases where that advantage matters most, in areas such as drug discovery, humanoid robotics, cybersecurity and fraud detection. Ultimately, this is about offering a more sustainable path for the technologies humankind depends on. Singapore is the innovation hub for Asia’ s data centre industry and what we build here is the model we intend to replicate and scale globally.” •
The deployment of a 20-unit CL1 biological computing system – the first independently operated biologically integrated server rack in the world – brings Cortical Labs’ technology into a live research environment at NUS Medicine, hosted within infrastructure designed and supported by DayOne. It demonstrates an alternative pathway to scale AI capacity with significantly lower power intensity.
A new frontier in computing
Biological computing uses living neurons grown from stem cells and connected to
32
INTELLIGENT CIO APAC www. intelligentcio. com