STTGDC secures $588M green loan for Tokyo data centers

By Elena Vasquez

STTGDC has secured a 93 billion yen ($588.46 million) green loan to finance the fit-out and operations of its first two data centers in Greater Tokyo. The Singapore-based operator will deploy the capital at its Inzai City campus, inside Goodman Business Park, as it builds out cloud, AI and other high-density digital workloads.

Standard Chartered acted as lead coordinator, alongside Mizuho Bank, OCBC, Société Générale and UOB. Standard Chartered and Société Générale also served as green loan coordinators.

The arrangement complies with the Green Loan Principles and links the loan to agreed environmental eligibility standards. The data centers must attain an agreed green building certification and a design power usage effectiveness ratio of 1.3 or below.

"The green-loan structure aligns our financing strategy with the environmental performance of the assets we develop, reinforcing how sustainability is integrated into our capital allocation and investment decisions," said Nelson Lim, group chief financial officer at STTGDC.

What is already operating in Tokyo?

STTGDC TYO1, the operator's first operating facility in Japan, has earned LEED Gold certification. Its design calls for annualized PUE below 1.25, 0.05 lower than the green loan's eligibility ceiling. A closed-loop cooling system is intended to minimize operational water use, with no ongoing water consumption during normal operations.

The facility also holds ISO 22301, ISO 27001 and ISO/IEC 20000 certifications and follows Japan Data Centre Council guidelines. Since operations began, STTGDC says TYO1 has maintained carbon-neutral operations for Scope 1 and 2 emissions while pursuing renewable electricity procurement and further efficiency gains.

The PUE number is a design target, and the water-saving claim describes the cooling system's intended normal operation. Neither establishes final performance for the fully occupied campus.

What is TYO2 designed to handle?

STTGDC TYO2 is under development for high-density AI and accelerated-computing workloads, with provisions for future liquid cooling. It is targeting TIA-942-C Design Certification and LEED Gold. Those are project targets, not certifications the building has already obtained.

The two sites form a 70.8MW IT campus for hyperscalers, cloud service providers and enterprises. Its design covers expanding cloud, AI and other mission-critical digital workloads.

The figure is planned capacity, not current operating load, and the disclosure does not split it between TYO1 and TYO2. The announcement also gives no TYO2 commissioning date.

Kiyoshi Maeda, CEO-Japan, framed the campus as a platform tied to Japan's digital market. "The Tokyo campus is central to our long-term commitment to Japan and strengthens our ability to support customers as their cloud, AI and digital infrastructure requirements grow," he said.

Maeda also said customers need infrastructure that can expand while preserving resilience and efficiency for mission-critical operations. His comments set out the commercial premise: rising cloud and AI requirements should support demand for dense capacity. Customer deployments will determine how much of the planned 70.8MW becomes occupied.

How does the loan fit STTGDC's expansion?

The financing arrives after a corporate change. STTGDC, previously known as ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, completed its acquisition by a consortium led by KKR and Singtel and adopted its STTGDC brand in early September. The transaction was valued at S$6.6 billion ($5.15 billion), with KKR holding a 75% stake.

Since the end of 2025, the group has increased operating capacity by 25%, reaching 780MW. Contracted capacity has risen 50%, and annualized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) has increased 30%. STTGDC attributes those results to demand across its markets and describes the post-acquisition phase as having strong operating momentum and a substantial development pipeline.

These are group-wide indicators rather than evidence of utilization at the two Tokyo sites. The disclosure provides no Tokyo-specific occupancy or revenue figures, so group-wide growth does not establish how quickly the new capacity will come into use.

What will the green financing prove?

Across all operations, STTGDC says renewable sources supplied 83.2% of electricity consumption. The company says this allowed it to surpass its 2028 carbon-intensity reduction target three years early. That group-wide sourcing figure differs from TYO1's narrower claim of carbon-neutral Scope 1 and 2 operations.

STTGDC also describes responsible growth as integral to its business and operations. The loan formalizes part of that approach for two assets through the certification and PUE conditions.

The next test is whether STTGDC can complete and certify TYO2 while preserving the efficiency terms attached to the loan. Its liquid-cooling provision, LEED Gold target and TIA-942-C certification remain pre-opening milestones, and the disclosure gives no completion date.

The financing is secured; customer uptake, commissioning and measured energy performance will determine whether the Tokyo expansion delivers on the operator's claims.