Singapore launches data center powered by human neurons

The world’s first data center to use living human neurons for computing has begun operations in Singapore.

According to the National University of Singapore, 20 CL1 biocomputers have been combined in a single server rack, containing a total of around 16 million neurons. The developers say such systems could learn from smaller amounts of data while consuming significantly less energy than conventional AI servers.

The technology was developed by Australian company Cortical Labs, which was founded in Melbourne in 2019. 

Two years later, its researchers grew neurons on a chip and taught them to play Pong, a simple computer game. In 2025, the company introduced the CL1, a biocomputer containing 800,000 neurons. Now, 20 such devices have been combined in Singapore.

The neurons are grown in a laboratory from stem cells and then placed on a chip equipped with microscopic electrodes. The computer uses these electrodes to send signals to the cells and read their responses, allowing researchers to control the operation of the living neural network and study how it learns.

By Jeyhun Aghazada