Digital Infrastructure Bill gives businesses certainty for long-term investments: Tan Kiat How

The Digital Infrastructure Bill represents a legislative shift from voluntary industry guidelines to mandatory compliance for critical digital infrastructure in Singapore. Currently, standards for cloud services and data centers, such as IMDA's Advisory Guidelines and the Multi-Tier Cloud Security Singapore Standard, are not consistently applied across the sector. The proposed Act would empower IMDA to license and enforce a common baseline of standards for providers meeting specific thresholds.

These thresholds include major co-location data centers and cloud data centers with a critical IT load of at least 10 megawatts, as well as cloud service providers generating over $100 million in average annual revenue from Singaporean users. The legislation is intended to manage the growing demand for computing power, particularly from artificial intelligence, which strains Singapore's limited land, power, and water resources. The digital economy accounted for 19.3% of Singapore's Gross Domestic Product in 2025, reaching $144.1 billion.

Beyond security and resilience, the bill addresses sustainability by requiring data centers with a critical IT load of at least 3MW to meet energy-efficiency requirements. This builds on prior initiatives like the Green Data Centre Roadmap from May 2024. The framework allows IMDA to update these requirements as technology and industry practices evolve, aiming to mitigate systemic disruptions that could ripple across the economy and society.