Singapore-based data center platform Racks Central yesterday unveiled a milestone in the construction of its 510MW AI data center campus in Johor which is believed to be the first and biggest AI data center in Southeast Asia. Phase 1, comprising Nvidia Blackwell GPU chips, is currently at the third floor stage of construction at the three-storey facility located in Pasir Gudang, observed Paul Mah, Executive Editor of w.media, in his Linkedin post yesterday.
Phase 1 comprising 70MW capacity is already fully committed while Phase 2 with 120MW is fully pre-booked, said Bobby Wee, CEO of Racks Central in his opening speech.
w.media had reported on the firm’s AIDC in an exclusive interview with Wee earlier this year where the CEO had revealed that the campus would feature 100 per cent high-end GPU offerings – with Nvidia Blackwell, Vera Rubin and Rubin Ultra being deployed at each successive phase of the RM26.6 billion (US$6.73 billion) project.
“Altogether there will be four facilities – RCJM1, RCJM2A & 2B and RCJM3. The biggest would be RCJM 2A & 2B. Together, their standalone capacity has already reached 300 MW out of 510 MW for the entire campus,” Wee had said.
The data center will draw water from Iskandar Reservoir with water treatment to be done in-house. The firm has additionally signed with Johor Special Water (JSW) to supply water to RCJM 1 and RCJM 2A, thus “the water requirement is very well-catered for”, Wee had revealed.
Designed to fulfill GreenRE Platinum rating, a Malaysian standard designed by the Malaysian association of real estate and housing developers (REHDA), the campus deploys several advanced green features including direct-to-chip cooling. GreenRE features its own Data Centre rating tool and score tiers which it modifies from other global green-building certification movements, including Singapore’s IMDA-BCA Green Mark.
Racks Central has recently hired Suppan Saravanamuthu, formerly from Iron Mountain, as COO. Racks Central is founded in 2014 with a modest 12MW data centre in Singapore.