PUB channels S$12 million to develop water efficiency solutions for wafer fabrication, data centres: DPM Gan

PUB channels S$12 million to develop water efficiency solutions for wafer fabrication, data centres: DPM Gan The data centre and chipmaking industries are water-intensive and provide critical components and services for artificial intelligence. SINGAPORE: Singapore’s national water agency PUB will channel S$12 million (US$9.36 million) in funding to the development of water-saving solutions for wafer fabrication and data centres, announced Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong on Tuesday (Jun 16). The two sectors are critical to Singapore’s economy and among the most water-intensive, he added. For wafer fabrication, the goal is to develop cost-effective treatment and recycling solutions, and for data centres, Singapore aims to enhance water efficiency without compromising energy efficiency, said Mr Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry. The funds form part of the nearly S$97 million in total funding PUB will receive from the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 urban solutions and sustainability domain, said PUB in a separate media release. RIE is a national R&D blueprint that is refreshed every five years. The remaining S$85 million will be used to develop innovative municipal water solutions, adding to the S$74 million in funding committed under RIE 2025. “Our aim is not only to meet Singapore’s own needs. We also want to develop solutions that can be applied in cities and industries around the world,” said Mr Gan at the opening of Singapore International Water Week on Tuesday. “If we can help industrial users reduce, reuse and recycle water more efficiently, this will support both economic growth and environmental sustainability.” Both industries provide critical components and services that underpin advancements in artificial intelligence. PUB's move follows recent announcements by American memory chip maker Micron Technology and semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials to expand their presence in Singapore. On Tuesday, PUB said it will work with multiple stakeholders – universities, research institutes, trade associations, technology providers and industry end-users – to develop and validate technologies. Connecting experts to relevant industry adopters will make technologies more likely to be deployed in the real world, by supporting their adoption within the wafer fabrication and data centre sectors, PUB said. FINDING SOLUTIONS To form the Industrial Water Solutions Innovation Ecosystem Alliances for the water fabrication and data centre sectors, two memorandums of understanding will be signed at the Singapore International Water Week. PUB will partner with the Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation (START) centre, Singapore Water Association (SWA) and the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Alliance to form the alliance for the wafer fabrication sector, it said in the media release. For the data centre sector, the alliance will be established with the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT), SWA and SGTech. During the initial phase, PUB will work with trade associations to identify problems and sector-specific industrial water challenges. The respective research partners will work with SWA to identify and recommend suitable solutions to address these gaps, the agency added. Promising technologies with potential for real-world deployment could undergo testing and validation at the START centre and STDCT's facilities, as well as sites operated by those who adopt the solutions. PUB will track the industrial water solutions projects, manage the overall budget and evaluate the outcomes of the funding initiatives, it said. “Successful projects will be consolidated into a portfolio of water recycling and cooling technologies for local deployment and commercialisation opportunities.” With the S$85 million in funding going towards municipal water solutions, the continued research in this domain will enhance PUB's ability to advance in areas including water treatment, desalination, and managing contaminants of emerging concern, it said. PUB will also use this funding to develop an energy-positive used water treatment integration validation plant, said the national water agency. This new research facility, slated for development in 2027, will advance used water treatment, providing research institutes and industry partners with opportunities to develop solutions with PUB.