LinkedIn’s first Data Centre outside the US comes online in Singapore

LinkedIn unveiled its first data centre outside of the US, in Singapore. The new data centre, spanning 23,500 square feet in Jurong, is one of six data centres for LinkedIn globally. LinkedIn has invested SGD $80 million so far in the new data centre, which was established to enhance the experience for the fast-growing base of LinkedIn members and clients across the Asia Pacific region, including speed and reliability of access to LinkedIn’s services as they connect to professional opportunities on the network.

LinkedIn has invested SGD $80 million so far in the new data centre, which was established to enhance the experience for the fast-growing base of LinkedIn members and clients across the Asia Pacific region, including speed and reliability of access to LinkedIn’s services as they connect to professional opportunities on the network.

Since January 2013, the number of LinkedIn members in the Asia Pacific more than doubled to reach over 85 million members at the end of 2015. This includes 16+ million members in Southeast Asia (of which 1+ million are in Singapore), 34+ million in India and 7+ million in Australia. LinkedIn also counts prominent leaders as its influencers, including Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India), Piyush Gupta (CEO of DBS Bank), Tony Fernandes (Group CEO of AirAsia), Shinzo Abe (Prime Minister of Japan) and Andrew Penn (CEO of Telstra). Over the same period, LinkedIn’s revenue in the region more than tripled.

The new data centre in Singapore processes all of LinkedIn’s online traffic in the Asia Pacific region and will also handle about a third of global traffic. It will also complement the continuing growth in LinkedIn’s storage and processing needs globally – in 2015, this growth was 34 percent. The smart design features are also expected to reduce the annual energy consumption of the data centre by a magnitude that is equivalent to powering about 100 private homes in Singapore.

“Asia Pacific is our fastest growing region in terms of member base outside of the US. We are investing to make sure we continue to provide a great experience as our business continues to grow in this region”, said Olivier Legrand, Managing Director of LinkedIn in Asia Pacific. “Singapore is the natural choice for us to locate this new data centre, as it is already our Asia Pacific Head Quarters, and it offers the cutting-edge infrastructure and talent we need to continue to improve the service and global connectivity we provide to our members and clients”, he added.

LinkedIn worked with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to deepen its presence in Singapore, including the establishment of the new data centre. This is in line with EDB’s vision for Singapore to be the digital capital of Asia.

“We’re delighted that LinkedIn has chosen Singapore as the location for its new investments. The establishment of the data centre reinforces our position as the region’s leading data management and connectivity hub,” said Mr. Kiren Kumar, Executive Director Infocomms & Media, Singapore Economic Development Board. He added, “As more global organisations place greater value in the Asia-Pacific market, Singapore continues to be the ideal location for companies to establish their mission-critical infrastructure as well as engineering and data analytics talent, to develop innovative solutions for their regional operations.”