In a statement, Juwai IQI co-founder and group CEO Kashif Ansari said Malaysia’s robust economic performance has helped boost demand in the data centre industry.
“This growth is driven by the country’s strategic location, favorable government policies, proximity to Singapore, and competitively priced land, power, and water.
“In Malaysia, the data centre market development pipeline consists of 1.2 gigawatts (GW), representing 600% growth over the next five years,” he said.
Kashif also noted that the government has provided tax incentives, grants, and regulatory support to attract data centre investments.
“The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) have jointly established a single point of governmental contact for investors to facilitate digital investments.
“They have also created the green lane pathway to enable new data centres to obtain power in as little as 12 months,” he said.
Kashif said that major cloud service providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Nvidia, and Google, recognise Malaysia’s attractive market and are committed to making significant investments.
He said key players in the Malaysian data centre market include NTT Global Data Centres, AWS, Microsoft, Google, and local firms such as TIME dotCom and Bridge Data Centres.
Kashif said that early-stage planned construction of new data centres is almost entirely focused on Greater Kuala Lumpur (55%), and Johor (45%), being the fastest-growing markets in Southeast Asia.
“This growth is due to Johor’s proximity to Singapore and supported by key factors such as ample land and reliable power supply,” he said, adding that the Malaysian data centre market will continue to grow rapidly throughout the rest of the decade.
He said with more than 3 GW underway or in the planning stage, and a pipeline of 1.2 GW underway, the market is expected to grow ninefold from its current capacity.
“One of the key challenges will be ensuring a reliable and sufficient power supply to support growth.
“Investments in power infrastructure and renewable energy sources will be crucial,” he added.
Additionally, he noted the importance of developing more submarine cable networks to improve connectivity between Malaysia and the rest of the world.