INSIGHT

| November-December. 2025

The region ' s data-centre industry is rapidly expanding, and Malaysia attracted up to RM278 billion in digital investments, including RM184.7 billion from data-centre and cloudrelated projects.

Once viewed as a secondary market behind Singapore, Malaysia is quickly catching up as a preferred alternative for data centre investment— driven by its strategic location, competitive costs, and evolving digital and energy infrastructure.

REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY

Located at the heart of Southeast Asia, Malaysia provides a strong tailwind for the long-term success of its data centres. Malaysia ' s geographical location along major subsea cable routes has enabled the country to offer lowlatency connectivity to key markets across the Asia-Pacific.

Johor, in particular, has emerged as a rising hotspot for data centres due to its proximity to Singapore, one of the region ' s most established digital hubs. There are now 29 active sites in Johor, and with the attention it has attracted, investors are increasingly drawn to the north to build more and capitalise on Johor ' s available industrial land while maintaining close digital and operational links to Singapore ' s ecosystem.

Meanwhile, with anticipated capacity in the gigawatt range, Cyberjaya have also emerged as one of the national hubs.

INFRASTRUCTURE READINESS

Another cornerstone underpinning Malaysia ' s upsurge is its cost advantage. Compared to neighbouring markets, Malaysia offers more competitively priced lands, flexible leasehold choices, and high-quality infrastructure.

Data centres are resourceintensive initiatives that require significant financial investments, and Malaysia stands out in the crowded regional market by offering both costeffectiveness and scalability.

Moreover, when it comes to developing and powering data centres, Malaysia does it well. Along with the low construction cost, the advantages are supported by the country ' s dependable national grid,

▶ Malaysia is quickly becoming a regional data centre hub, attracting billions in digital investments as demand for cloud, AI, and data-driven services surges

▶ Its strategic location, cost advantages, and growing hubs like Johor and Cyberjaya make it an attractive alternative to Singapore for scalable data centre development

▶ Sustainability will shape future growth, as Malaysia balances rapid expansion with energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption

AS artificial intelligence( AI) and cloud computing workloads increase, so does the energy demand for data centres, which are the digital hubs that power today ' s technologies.

In Malaysia, the rapid expansion of data infrastructure has led to greater emphasis on sustainability, specifically on how data centres can operate with a lower environmental impact while meeting the exploding demand.

Data centres are intrinsically