Malaysia’s breakout moment in the data center race
Malaysia is in the middle of a data center building wave. Operators are brushing aside concerns over power availability and labor limits, saying demand is rising at a pace they have never seen. The most dramatic change is in Johor, the southern state across the border from Singapore. What began as a spillover from Singapore’s tight land and energy market has turned into a fast growing regional hub for cloud and AI infrastructure.
Industry trackers report that Malaysia became Asia Pacific’s fastest growing data center market in 2024. Cushman and Wakefield estimates that operational capacity in the country rose by around 80 percent since late 2023, while the Asia Pacific region added 1.3 gigawatts of new supply in the first half of 2024 to reach roughly 11.6 gigawatts. When counting live, under construction and planned projects, Malaysia now ranks among the top five markets region wide, and both Johor and Kuala Lumpur sit within the top ten cities by total market size. Capacity in this sector is measured by the electrical load facilities can draw, expressed in megawatts (MW) and gigawatts (GW).
Jeremy Deutsch, Asia Pacific president of Vantage Data Centers, described the mindset among builders and customers as demand surges for AI, cloud and digital services.
