World's tallest indoor vertical farm opens in Singapore after 14 years

Rising more than 23 meters inside a purpose-built five-storey building in Jurong West, Greenphyto is betting that automation, artificial intelligence and tighter control over costs can succeed where many indoor farms have failed.

The fully automated hydroponic farm can eventually produce up to 2,000 tonnes of leafy greens a year at full capacity. For now, output stands at about 200 tonnes, with vegetables such as kailan and lettuce already sold at around 95 supermarkets, including FairPrice and Sheng Siong, The Straits Times reported.

Inside the facility, towering vertical racks are stacked with hundreds of trays of greens, each grown under LED lighting that adjusts to the crop’s growth stage. Instead of using a fixed light intensity for all plants, Greenphyto’s system fine-tunes energy use batch by batch, a move the company says has cut electricity consumption by about 30%.

At the center of the operation are unmanned growing chambers, where robotic systems monitor crop health, move seedling trays and collect data that feeds into the farm’s AI software. The system tracks germination rates, predicts yields and alerts staff to potential problems such as yellowing leaves, offering possible causes and corrective actions.

Greenphyto’s launch comes at a difficult moment for vertical farming in Singapore and globally. Over the past few years, several local agri-tech firms have shut down or abandoned expansion plans, hit by rising energy costs, supply chain disruptions after the Covid-19 pandemic and weakening investor confidence. In late 2025, Singapore also dropped its "30 by 30" food production goal, replacing it with new targets focused on protein and fiber production by 2035.

Founder Susan Chong said those setbacks only reinforced her determination to make the project work. Rather than flooding the market with produce, Greenphyto operates on a make-to-order basis, growing vegetables only after securing orders from retailers. The aim, she said, is to avoid waste while keeping prices competitive with imported greens.

Her journey into farming began more than a decade ago with small-scale hydroponic systems set up for community use. Over time, she began to see how automation could transform the process, eventually leading her to register Greenphyto in 2014 and sell her earlier business to focus fully on agri-technology, Business Times reported.

Beyond selling vegetables, Greenphyto is positioning itself as a technology exporter. The company plans to sell its proprietary farming systems overseas and license its AI software to other farms and even to industries such as food and beverage and supply chain management. A separate technology spin-off is also being planned to help businesses adopt digital automation tools.

The project has received backing from government agencies aimed at boosting productivity in the agri-food sector, and senior officials attending the launch said the farm’s emphasis on automation, lower energy use and technology exports could work in its favor.

Still, the real test lies ahead. As Greenphyto ramps up production, it will need to keep costs under control while convincing consumers to pay for locally grown produce in a market dominated by imports. In a sector littered with expensive failures, the farm’s success or struggle may offer an early signal of whether high-tech vertical farming still has a viable future.