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# Malaysia clamped down. Thailand followed. Is Vietnam next?
- URL: https://www.techstories.co/malaysia-clamped-down-thailand-followed-is-vietnam-next/
- Published: 2026-08-17T11:33:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-22T06:51:12.000Z
- Description: Spillover demand needs somewhere to land, and Hanoi is ready.
- Author: Paul Mah
- Tags: Data Centres

Malaysia has clamped down. Thailand is following. So where does data centre demand go next? Vietnam is starting to look like the answer.

I was in Ho Chi Minh City recently to visit Subzero, which manufactures data centre containment for its APAC customers from its Vietnam factory. As I wrote about in an earlier piece, the trip got me mulling over Vietnam as an upcoming data centre hub.

### The window is shrinking

Across the Asia Pacific, regulations are tightening. As I observed in my newsletter commentary yesterday, the window between a market opening up and then clamping down is clearly shrinking.

Malaysia has imposed a strict new approvals regime on data centres since late last year, several years after Singapore's own moratorium. Thailand moved far faster. When it started experiencing rapid "spillover" growth, new regulations followed in less than a year.

Which leaves an obvious question. Where does pent up demand for data centres go? Could Vietnam be the next beneficiary of the global frenzy to build?

![](https://www.techstories.co/content/images/2026/08/1786966382708.jpg)

****Photo Credit**: Paul Mah

### Why Vietnam?

It wouldn't be the first time a market has benefited from a spillover. Johor was once touted as the winner of data centre demand displaced from Singapore, which enacted a three-year moratorium from 2019 and has since moved into a stage of controlled growth.

Today, Johor is on track to [house 60% of the data centres in Malaysia](https://www.whitecase.com/insight-our-thinking/what-propelling-malaysias-data-centre-boom?ref=techstories.co). That's an incredible feat considering it had just [one 10MW facility in 2021](https://www.techstories.co/how-johor-grew-from-10mw-to-1-500mw-in-three-years/), and considering that Malaysia was already a well-established player in its own right.

Electricity has proved to be the constraining factor for data centres everywhere. On this front, Vietnam's edge is its larger national power base, with a renewable fleet that is large by ASEAN standards at more than 50% of capacity, and with very aggressive targets for further growth. The caveat is that Vietnam does still suffer from seasonal power shortages and localised outages.

### Rolling out the welcome mat

Vietnam is certainly attempting to make itself attractive as a location for new digital infrastructure. It plans to have at least 15 subsea cables by 2030, with a capacity of 350Tbps or more. There are just six active international subsea cables serving the country right now, so that is a very big jump.

Policy is moving too. The [Law on Investment](https://www.allenandgledhill.com/perspectives/articles/32934/vnkh-vietnam-issues-decree-guiding-implementation-of-law-on-investment?ref=techstories.co) No. 143/2025/QH15, adopted in December 2025 and taking effect in March this year, explicitly lists the construction of both data centres and AI data centres as a priority investment area. That brings special incentives and elevated treatment, including potentially faster approvals.

It's early days yet, but the pieces appear to be falling into place. The real test is whether Vietnam can build fast enough to catch the demand before it moves elsewhere.