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Comment by dan_can_code | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what the cost of a datacenter within Singapore is? The cost per sq/m in that country, which is the most expensive in the world, must be huge.

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I've run equipment in dc's in multiple places in the US, Germany, and Singapore. By far, the most expensive was Singapore.

Is it because it costs the operator a lot to run one or because they can charge a lot?

(I guess over time those should converge, but sometimes takes a while or doesn’t)

All of the above. Space/Power/Staff is just more expensive there. We also had a lot of trouble because a couple of our Dell servers had issues and it took some time to figure out how to get them repaired. There was just a lack of urgency there too.

Comparatively speaking, I would expect SG DC staff to be lower cost than western countries.

Power is the killer, and it's doubly bad. Not only is it expensive, you're using a lot of power to keep things cool given ambient temp fluctuates typically between 24-33C, 60%-90%Rh 24/7.

There was a moratorium on new DC builds in Singapore, so there's also a huge demand/premium on rack space in SG.

Singapore DCs build vertical to save on footprint. Quite a few DCs were built on the west side of the island where it's industrial and land is/was cheaper.

Well, considering you’d have most of the needed utilities already connected and present, a large population of well educated people, and extremely high bandwidth connections in close proximity, it’s probably only slightly higher than elsewhere.

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