Why Batam, Johor and Singapore each de-risk the others

The data centre markets in Singapore, Johor and Batam are specialised, non-competing nodes. Each de-risks the others, which allows for a complete, bankable platform.

That was the framing from Edward Tay of Infracrowd Capital in his opening keynote on the data centre potential of SIJORI. Here's what I heard so far.

On SIJORI and AI

Instead of painting the data centre markets of Singapore, Johor and Batam as competitors, Edward casts them as specialised and potentially complementary. Singapore brings trust, capital and interconnection. Johor brings land and power at scale. Batam brings regulatory diversity and resilience.

Edward also argued that the classic data centre investment thesis is "dead" in the AI era. Where traditional data centres were valued like premium real estate, with stable tenants, long leases and predictable power, none of that holds true once AI enters the picture.

So what is the new valuation language for AI data centres? Megawatts secured, GPU-readiness, cooling density, and power access.

Malaysia focus

Consider the pace of change. Malaysia went from roughly 200MW of contracted data centre power five years ago to about 5GW today, according to Wan Murdani Wan Mohamad. No wonder the country established its Data Centre Task Force (DCTF) to ensure finite resources are allocated deliberately, including gating approvals on efficiency standards.

The Malaysian government also has an eye on local procurement and on growing domestic manufacturers, so that the growth helps Malaysian businesses. This ultimately makes AI compute cheaper for local businesses, he says.

Batam rising

Interest in Batam is surging too. In the last two months alone, two companies have signed on for data centre deals of 500MW each, Dendi Gustinandar of BP Batam revealed. BP Batam is Indonesia's Batam Free Trade Zone and Free Port Authority, the central government agency responsible for managing, developing and building the Batam area.

So why is Batam ready for data centres? The first reason is location, given its proximity to Singapore and Johor. The second is certainty, because BP Batam issues every licence locally. The third is execution, as investors are already committing capital.

Let's catch up

What's clear is the strong role data centres now play across the region. As Dedi Iskandar observed, Malaysia and Indonesia have both recently created data centre task forces of their own, mirroring Singapore.

The objective is to accelerate programmes, spur economic growth, and strengthen the investment climate. Three nodes, three task forces, one regional bet. The question is which of them moves fastest.