Equinix has revealed plans to establish a data center in Kuala Lumpur during the first quarter of 2024, following the company’s previous announcement to venture into Malaysia with a data center in Johor last year.
The upcoming facility in Kuala Lumpur, known as KL1, and the JH1 in Johor, will be built to offer essential digital infrastructure to enable businesses to leverage the opportunities presented by Malaysia’s digital economy.
“The establishment of the two new data centers will play a pivotal role in accelerating the development of the nation’s digital economy. These data centers will act as catalysts for digital innovation, enabling businesses to harness the power of advanced technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and big data analytics,” said Wira Arham Abdul Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).
The upcoming Equinix facility in Kuala Lumpur reinforces Malaysia’s status as a flourishing hub for data center infrastructure. Moreover, Australia’s NEXTDC Ltd has also recently revealed its intentions to invest RM3 billion in the development of Kuala Lumpur 1 (KL1), a Tier IV-certified data center. This investment serves as NEXTDC’s inaugural venture into the Asian market.
In March this year, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced that it will be investing RM25.5 billion in Malaysia to develop its cloud services infrastructure in the country.
The growth of Malaysia’s data center sector has predominantly occurred in two key areas, namely Greater Kuala Lumpur (which includes Central Kuala Lumpur and Cyberjaya) and Johor. In the past ten years, Malaysia has emerged as one of the most vibrant data center markets in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, thanks to a surge in cloud adoption, government-supported initiatives, and the Singapore data center moratorium.
Johor is seen as a key location for data centers in the country with development areas such as Nusajaya Tech Park, Sedenak Tech Park, and YTL Green Data Centre Park.
In a report released in April by Knight Frank, Malaysia was ranked as the most desired destination for data center investment.