The Digital Infrastructure Bill (“Bill“) was introduced for First Reading in Parliament on 8 September 2026 and was passed on 7 October 2026. The Bill will establish two new licensing regimes to strengthen (i) the security and resilience of major cloud services and data centres (“DCs“), and (ii) the environmental sustainability of DC operations in Singapore. In doing so, the Bill will strengthen the foundations on which Singapore’s digital economy is being built and provide regulatory clarity that supports long-term infrastructure investment in Singapore.
Key Features
The Bill will establish two licensing regimes administered by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (“IMDA“).
- Security and resilience of major DCs and Cloud Service Providers (“CSPs”). The licensing will apply to specified major foundational digital infrastructure services including (i) major co-location and cloud DCs with a critical information technology (“IT“) load of at least 10 megawatts (MW), and (ii) major CSPs whose Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) services generate at least S$100 million in average annual revenue from users in Singapore over the three preceding years. To manage operational resilience risks, licensees will be required to implement security risk management measures, business continuity and disaster recovery plans, and report specified incidents and disruptions to IMDA.
- Environmental sustainability of DC operations. The DC operator licensing regime will apply to all operators of DCs with a critical IT load of at least 3MW across existing and new DCs. As a first step, licensees will be required to meet facility-level energy-efficiency requirements. The framework allows further requirements, including for IT equipment and water efficiency, to be introduced where necessary and following consultation with industry.
The Bill also provides a basis for strategic, economic, and green energy commitments made – in exchange for being awarded new DC capacity through exercises such as the Data Centre – Call for Application (DC-CFA) – to be enforced as licence conditions.
Public Consultation
The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (“MDDI“) and IMDA conducted a public consultation on the draft Bill from 1 to 22 July 2026. For more information on the public consultation, please refer to our July 2026 Legal Update titled “Public Consultation on Digital Infrastructure Bill on Security of Digital Infrastructure Services and Environmental Sustainability of Data Centre Operations”.
Following the public consultation, respondents were supportive of the Bill’s policy objectives and provided feedback on the practical implementation of the licensing regimes and regulatory requirements. Feedback received has been taken into account in the finalised Bill.
MDDI and IMDA have indicated that, in the implementation of the Bill, they will:
- minimise regulatory burden by streamlining licensing and reporting processes and, where possible, recognise existing industry standards and certifications;
- provide sufficient transition time for existing DCs to meet regulatory requirements;
- streamline requirements under the Bill and the Cybersecurity Act; and
- continue engaging the industry on the detailed requirements, transition arrangements and implementation of the regulatory framework.
Click on the following links for more information:
- Digital Infrastructure Bill (available on the Parliament of Singapore website at www.parliament.gov.sg)
Available on the MDDI website at www.mddi.gov.sg:
- MDDI Press Release titled “New Digital Infrastructure Bill to Strengthen the Foundations for Singapore’s Digital Economy”
- Public Consultation on the Digital Infrastructure Bill
If you have any queries on the above, please reach out to our Team set out on this page.
For regional Real Estate , Sustainability, and Technology, Media and Telecommunications matters, please see Rajah & Tann Asia’s Real Estate Practice, Sustainability Practice and Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice, respectively, for more information.
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