The newly launched “FutureGrid Accelerator” at the Electrification and Power Grids Centre, which is owned by Energy Research Institute @ NTU. — The Straits Times
SINGAPORE: More than 8,000 internships, training opportunities and industry attachment openings have been developed in the data centre sector, as part of a national push to build artificial intelligence (AI)-ready capabilities.
Over the next five years, data centre provider ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) will provide internship placements across the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS).
Through this initiative, young entrants will benefit from hands-on experience in data centre operations and corporate functions such as information technology, sustainability, finance and marketing.
Over three years, about 800 ITE students annually will also benefit from initiatives like the deployment of a data centre virtual reality system for immersive training.
The initiative was announced on Monday by data centre provider STT GDC, which also signed a memorandum of understanding with the four institutes of higher learning to expand early career pathways for Singaporeans entering the workforce.
These initiatives align with national efforts to support fresh graduates in a challenging job market, said STT GDC in a statement.
At the same event, STT GDC also announced the launch of the FutureGrid Accelerator, a platform that demonstrates how high-voltage direct current (HVDC) can enable more sustainable use of energy with higher efficiency and stronger resilience for AI computing needs.
It is the region’s first live test bed demonstrating this technology, said STT GDC.
The platform is located at the Electrification and Power Grids Centre on Jurong Island, which is owned by Energy Research Institute @NTU (ERI@N).
Data centres that power AI computing are huge energy guzzlers. The International Energy Agency projects that electricity demand from data centres worldwide is set to more than double by 2030 to around 945 terawatt-hours, slightly more than the entire electricity consumption of Japan today.
ERI@N is the only facility in Singapore, and one of the first in South-East Asia, dealing with medium voltage, said its executive director, Professor Madhavi Srinivasan.
She noted that as AI and energy is a very new topic, talent needs to be trained. “Interested students can be part of this facility for their internship,” she said.
“This facility is very important because when we talk about energy research, there are new technologies that are coming out of the lab,” she added: “But before it can go into commercialisation, we need to test them in a real-world scenario, and that’s what this facility helps to do.”
ITE chief executive Peter Lam said Singapore is seeing rapid growth in both its data centre industry and electrification.
But there is a dearth of talent in these areas, he noted, where awareness is “not there yet”.
He said that while electrical engineering is one of the main courses that contribute to the data centre industry, students trained in engineering, sustainability, data science, data engineering and IT can also consider pathways in the sector.
“If you are trained as an engineer, the structured way of problem-solving and foundational skills will enable you to take on other roles within this industry as well.
“Because today, the data centre industry is actually quite rocket science, and you don’t need just electrical engineers.
“You also need mechanical engineers for many mechanical systems that operate within the data centres, like cooling systems.”
Meanwhile, data engineers and scientists will be able to process data, figure out what it means and translate it into engineering solutions to make sure a data centre is run more efficiently or designed in a better way, he added. — The Straits Times/ANN
