The decade-long making of Johor's data centre boom
Old brochures from 2015 show the groundwork was laid long before the hyperscalers arrived.
Johor as a data centre hub was an "overnight" success over a decade in the making. And I found the proof while spring cleaning this week.
Tucked inside a long-forgotten file were a couple of brochures from 2015 that told a story most people have forgotten, or never knew.
Old brochures
I was clearing things out and came across a couple of brochures from 2015 inside a long-forgotten file. The two brochures outlined development plans around the Iskandar region, which includes the Nusajaya Tech Park. And yes, data centres were part of the plan.
The two brochures outlined development plans around the Iskandar region, which includes the Nusajaya Tech Park. And yes, data centres were part of the plan even back then, well before surging demand made Johor a household name in data centre circles.
If you recall, GDS (now DayOne) became one of the first to announce plans for a hyperscale data centre campus at Nusajaya in 2021. At that time, there was only Keppel's 10MW data centre. And the rest, as they say, is history, as data centre operators rushed into Johor.
A decade in the making
Over the last few years, dozens of data centres have been announced in Johor alone, from eastern and western hyperscalers as well as local and regional operators. I've written about how Johor is now Southeast Asia's fastest-growing data centre market and is on track to overtake every major market in APAC by 2030, other than China.
Assuming all announced data centres are built, Johor will overtake far more established markets in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Australia in absolute capacity over the next four years. For a state that had just a single operational data centre as recently as 2021, that trajectory is remarkable.
Not an overnight success
While there is no doubting that this is a once-in-a-generation moment, it's worth noting that the groundwork and desire were already in place. Agencies such as MDEC were actively involved, and it took many years of patient planning and positioning to reach fruition.
The brochures I found are a small but telling reminder that Johor's success didn't materialise out of thin air. So yes, Johor is a major data centre success today. But it was over a decade in the making.
Where do you see Johor heading in another ten years?
