Spotlight U.S. :Powering Data Centers & Strengthening Grids – The Next Decade

Date	28 Oct 2026, 10:00 - 11:15 hrs
Venue	Marina Bay Sands Singapore

Keeping pace with the rapid growth of the digital economy is becoming one of Southeast Asia’s defining infrastructure challenges. Southeast Asia is one of the world's most dynamic arenas for digital infrastructure investment. The regional data center market reached US$14 billion in 2025, with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam emerging as prime investment destinations.

This growth mirrors a much larger global trend. Investment in data centers worldwide is estimated to have reached US$580 billion in 2025, surpassing spending on oil supplies, and in the United States alone data centers are projected to consume up to 12% of total domestic electricity by 2028, up from 4.4% in 2023 – a surge driven largely by AI workloads, which could account for 70% of data center power demand by 2030. AI and digital services are creating a new class of electricity demand: large, rapidly scalable, power-dense and geographically concentrated. Supply chain concentration in key grid and generation technologies also introduces planning and procurement challenges for many economies, underscoring the need for diversified, resilient infrastructure strategies and solutions.

Across APEC, economies also face significant disparities in compute density and challenges associated with concentrated supply chains for key grid and generation technologies. These trends underscore the urgency of developing diversified, resilient, and forward-looking approaches to power the next phase of digital growth. As cloud computing, AI, and digital services accelerate, the conversation is shifting from simply expanding digital infrastructure to ensuring long-term energy resilience, sustainability, and grid reliability.

This forum will touch on AI, energy security, infrastructure finance, and regional integration as well as low carbon energy solutions for data centres. The private sector – including data centre operators, utilities, energy technology providers, engineering firms, and standards bodies – is advancing innovative approaches to high-density power delivery, grid integration, storage, and advanced cooling. Turning these innovations into deployed infrastructure, however, depends on regulatory clarity, coordinated infrastructure planning, and predictable market frameworks.

Time (GMT +8)	Programme
10:00 - 10:05 hrs	Welcome Remarks by Singapore
10:05 - 10:10 hrs	Welcome Remarks by U.S.
10:10 - 10:40 hrs	Session 1: Keeping the Lights On and Powering the Digital Economy: Can ASEAN’s Energy Transition Keep Up? What challenges, considerations, and solutions are available to make sure there is sufficient power for everyone’s needs? Key Discussions: AI workloads create high-density, reliability-sensitive, rapidly scalable demand that differs fundamentally from traditional data centre or industrial load. How should grid operators and regulators plan differently for this? What regulatory clarity and predictable market frameworks does the private sector need to deploy AI-ready infrastructure (interconnection rules, permitting timelines, tariff structures)? Can local grids in Southeast Asia evolve quickly enough to support the next wave of technologies and its concomitant digital infrastructure? What are the global best practices that ASEAN can adopt and learn from? How can renewables play a greater role in future-proofing energy demand, storage and grid management?
10:40 - 11:10 hrs	Session 2: Financing the Growth in the Digital Economy Where are the biggest financing gaps over the next five years, and what would need to change for private capital to flow even faster? Does energy access determine the location of investment? Or are there other more important factors in consideration? Key Discussions: The Power Question: Commercial AI and emerging tech deployment is increasingly constrained less by the pace of R&D, but rather, by the access to sufficient and stable energy supplies. Southeast Asian grids vary enormously in reliability and renewable mix. What needs to change to unlock more power in the grid for Southeast Asia’s energy needs? What are the challenges that need to be overcome – e.g., financing or other considerations? Beyond financing, what regulatory bottlenecks most constrain private capital from moving quickly on AI-driven energy infrastructure?
11:10 - 11:15 hrs	Closing Remarks
11:15 hrs	End of Programme

*Programme subject to change

Spotlight U.S. :Powering Data Centers & Strengthening Grids – The Next Decade