Malaysia could see increased data center investment as the US-Iran war raises security concerns in the Middle East. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Mohd Haris Mohd Arshad, President and Group CEO, SD Guthrie Bhd, said, “If you’re going to build data centres for US$ 10 billion, you’re not going to put it in a place where you might be bombed. We are riding that wave of investment that is coming into Malaysia.”
With this in mind, SD Guthrie Berhad, a land owner and producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil, has allocated about 10 percent of its 210,000 hectares of land for industrial development and renewable energy projects to support the data center industry.
Johor has received a significant share of data center investment, partly because of its proximity to Singapore. However, electricity supply remains a constraint on further development as readers will recall the Johor government’s plans to increase its solar energy generation capacity to 5 GW by 2030-31.
Additionally, the Southern Johor Renewable Energy Corridor (SJREC), aims to supply renewable electricity from Johor to Singapore. DBS Bank Ltd. (DBS), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) are working with Ditrolic Energy Holdings, a renewable clean energy developer and infrastructure platform, to establish a financing framework for the US$ 6 billion project.
Malaysia has attracted investments from Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently said SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son had selected locations in the country for US$50 billion in technology investments, citing its stability as a data center destination in Southeast Asia.