Forget silicon chip servers, Singapore’s newest data centre needs to be fed
AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication
Singapore’s National University of Science has launched the country’s first biological data centre, utilizing living human brain cells instead of traditional silicon chips. Developed by Australian biotech firm Cortical Labs in partnership with NUS and DayOne, the facility went live on July 16. Technicians maintain the system by feeding the neurons a nutrient cocktail and regulating gas levels every three days. The centre currently houses 20 biological computer units, each containing at least 200,000 lab-grown neurons derived from reprogrammed blood cells. These neurons exchange electrical signals with computers to generate raw computing power. Cortical Labs CEO Hon Weng Chong stated that this technology excels in scenarios with limited data, such as training humanoid robots for unpredictable environments or enhancing cybersecurity anomaly detection. The setup mirrors human learning capabilities, allowing efficient application of knowledge from few examples. Plans exist to expand the facility to 1,000 units pending regulatory approval. This initiative follows Cortical Labs’ commercialization of a similar system in Melbourne.
💡 Why It Matters
- · This technology bypasses the massive data requirements of traditional AI, enabling robots to adapt to unpredictable real-world environments with minimal training.
- · It offers a viable path for deploying autonomous systems where collecting vast datasets is impractical or impossible.
