KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's data centre landscape is heating up as property developers and global digital infrastructure giants race to secure their place in one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing technology frontiers.
From Bukit Jalil to Johor's Sedenak Tech Park, billions of ringgit are converging on the country's digital economy. With both homegrown and international players expanding their footprints, Malaysia is fast emerging as the region's next hyperscale stronghold – where the contest for land, power, and connectivity has only just begun.
The latest flurry of activity began with Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB), which on Sept 9, 2025, announced that it had acquired the Employees' Provident Fund's (EPF) 80 per cent stake in the Bukit Jalil Sentral project for RM1.6 billion. The move gives MRCB full ownership of the freehold site and the flexibility to explore potential data centre developments, leveraging its proximity to the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation Park, a thriving data hub located just 1.9 km away.
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Meanwhile, Sime Darby Property Bhd has entered the main construction phase of its second data centre at Elmina Business Park (EBP) II through its wholly owned subsidiary, EBP Asset II. The group recently awarded the RM1.3 billion civil and structural (C&S) package to IJM Corp Bhd on Oct 24, 2025, followed by an RM874 million mechanical and electrical (M&E) contract on Oct 29, 2025, for the same project.
The contracts are part of an RM5.6 billion build-and-lease agreement signed between Sime Darby Property and Pearl Computing Malaysia (PCM) on Dec 2, 2024, covering two blocks of hyperscale data centre facilities to be leased to PCM for 20 years, with two optional extensions of five years each. The deal follows an earlier RM2 billion project announced in May 2024, also with PCM, in which Gamuda Bhd was awarded a RM1.76 billion turnkey contract to develop another hyperscale facility on a nearby 49-acre parcel.
At Eco Business Park V (EBP V) in Puncak Alam, Eco World Development Group Bhd is pursuing a similar path. On Feb 25, 2025, it signed a long-term lease agreement with PCM to build a data centre on a 92-acre site for 20 years (renewable for up to 10 years), while also selling a 58-acre parcel in the same park to PCM for RM266 million.
Just months later, on Aug. 29, 2025, Gamuda Bhd secured a RM2.1 billion contract from Quantum Alpha Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eco World, to construct two hyperscale data centres on the leased 92-acre site. The separate 58-acre land sale is pending final regulatory approvals.
In Johor, competition in the data centre space is intensifying, driven by YTL Power International Bhd's bold push with its flagship 600 MW YTL Green Data Centre Park in Kulai. Spread across 275 acres, the development is home to Malaysia's first Nvidia-powered AI data centre, built through YTL Power's strategic partnership with Nvidia Corp.
YTL Power recently announced the completion of this AI facility, equipped with Nvidia's latest liquid-cooled NVL72 Grace Blackwell (GB200) GPUs, marking a significant milestone in Malaysia's bid to position itself as a regional AI and hyperscale hub.
Meanwhile, according to a Sept 5, 2025 report by Mingtiandi, Vantage Data Centres is in advanced talks to acquire a 98 MW data centre facility from Yondr Group for US$1.6 billion (RM6.8 billion). Yondr has already delivered the first 25 MW, which is leased to Oracle under a 15-year contract. Once completed, the 72.5-acre Sedenak Tech Park campus will boast an expandable capacity of up to 300 MW, making it one of Asean's largest hyperscale facilities.
Another heavyweight, AirTrunk, is also deepening its roots in Malaysia. Following the launch of its JHB1 facility in July 2024 – with capacity exceeding 150 MW – the Sydney-based operator unveiled plans for JHB2, a new hyperscale facility scalable up to 270 MW. The expansion brings AirTrunk's total Malaysian investment to RM9.7 billion. In Dec 2024, the company was acquired by a partnership between Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board in a A$24 billion deal.
The momentum shows no signs of slowing. In the first half of 2025 alone, two global data centre operators raised a combined US$6.3 billion in fresh funding. BDC, backed by Bain Capital, secured US$2.8 billion (RM12.4 billion) on March 19, 2025, to accelerate hyperscale developments in Malaysia and Thailand.
Three months later, on June 12, 2025, DayOne Data Centres closed a US$3.5 billion (RM15 billion) multicurrency financing package to support its green data centre expansion in Johor – further underscoring Malaysia's growing stature on the global data infrastructure map.
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