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For years, commentators compared data<\/a> to one of the world\u2019s most important commodities: oil. Much like how massive oil reserves conferred wealth and power on the world\u2019s petrostates and fossil-fuel firms in the 20th century, countries and companies with lots of data could leverage that resource in the 21st century.<\/p>\n The argument is taking on greater relevance with the rise of AI: Large countries like the U.S. and China can train their AI models on massive amounts of data, while smaller economies, with less data on hand, just can\u2019t keep up.<\/p>\n But Josephine Teo, Singapore\u2019s minister for digital development and information, argued at the Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore conference on Tuesday that oil is the wrong comparison to make when talking about how countries use data.<\/p>\n Unlike oil\u2014a finite resource that goes away once extracted and used\u2014data can be \u201crecombined\u201d many times over, she said. \u201cData is actually more useful when it is reused in many different contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n Singapore adopted an AI strategy in 2019, and is now trying to leverage its existing strengths as a trade and travel hub to bolster its development of the new technology. \u201cWe aren\u2019t trying to be an AI superpower. We don\u2019t need to be,\u201d Teo told Fortune<\/a><\/em> in a recent feature on the country\u2019s plans for AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Teo suggested the country\u2019s vibrant economy is one way Singapore can get access to the data it needs. \u201cIf you consider the size of our GDP, and use it as an indication of the breadth and depth of activities that are taking place in Singapore, and that every single one of those activities generates a data point\u2014then maybe the data is not as small as we think it is,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, the Singaporean minister noted some potential challenges to the country\u2019s AI hopes. \u201cIn any new field, the pool of talent is always going to be a concern,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not broad enough, it\u2019s not deep enough.\u201d<\/p>\n But she pushed back against suggestions that Singapore\u2019s brief moratorium on data centers had hindered the country\u2019s attractiveness as an AI hub.<\/p>\n In 2019, the Singaporean government briefly paused approvals of new data centers, owing to concerns about land use and power consumption. Operators fled elsewhere, including to neighboring Malaysia, which is now attracting billions of dollars in investment from Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Google.<\/p>\n But Teo argued Singapore, with 70 data centers, has some of the world\u2019s \u201cdensest data center capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at our data center capacity relative to the size of our GDP, and if you compare it to, say, Japan or if you compare it to China, actually we have way more,\u201d she claimed.<\/p>\n While Singapore is open to having more data centers, \u201cthe question is how do we do it whilst also being able to fulfill our commitments to the net-zero pathway,\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n The answer is \u201ctropical [data center] standards,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you\u2019re operating the data center in a tropical climate, do you need to operate it at a temperature that is so low? Or [is it that] actually with one degree higher, you\u2019re okay?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n\n\u2018Tropical\u2019 data centers<\/h2>\n
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