Johor will host the bulk of Malaysia's data centre capacity by 2030
From zero data centers in 2020.
Johor will host 60% of Malaysia's data centre capacity by 2030. Hard to believe that Johor had just one data centre in 2021.
Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz revealed the 60% figure at this week’s signing ceremony, where DayOne secured RM15 billion (US$3.5B) in financing for its data centres in Johor.
Right now, Johor has about 30 data centre projects completed or under construction; another 20 more are awaiting approvals. To think it has zero data centres in 2020.
What happened? Opportunity. Demand. Quick reaction.
Once-in-a-generation growth
It's arguably that Singapore's data centre moratorium of 2019 set the stage for its growth in the region. Of course, it also happened at a time when data centre growth surged globally.
While Johor had a single 10MW data centre (Keppel's DC Johor 1) in 2021, regional players soon started building in earnest there - right across from Singapore.
It helped that Malaysia was an optimal location and reacted quickly to support the sector.
- Has a strong base of data centres.
- Surplus of power generation capacity.
- Created new initiatives to support data centres.
And things just took off.
But no matter how I look at the charts compared to other APAC markets, the growth trajectory remains astounding.
Critical mass
Last year, everyone I spoke to was either already building a data centre campus in Johor, or say they have a pending announcement to make.
In fact, I visited the launch of one data centre in Johor last month, which was built with fully prefabricated modular components in less than 8 months.
More recently, I'm hearing of a slowdown in growth. Still, I believe Johor has achieved a critical mass as a data centre hub - it is now too big to fail.
What's next
There are challenges that need to be addressed. Here are two of them.
Enterprise workloads
No matter who I asked, I haven't yet heard of any deployment of enterprise workloads in Johor. In my mind, it's vital for future growth due to the finite number of hyperscale customers.
Resource shortage
Localised resource shortage will need to be addressed. For instance, BrightRay's phase 2 and phase 3 will use dry coolers, not cooling towers. That's because Sedenak has some issues with its water supply - it'll take time to resolve.
What are your thoughts on the Johor data centre market?
