Time dotCom Berhad has concluded a transaction with DigitalBridge Group, Inc. to establish a strategic partnership aimed at the expansion of its AIMS Group data center business throughout Asia.
The collaboration is part of the plan towards expanding data center facilities in key ASEAN and international cities. The focus is on delivering services to multinationals, large enterprises, content providers, internet infrastructure providers, and financial institutions. The expansion will be centered around AIMS, with Malaysia serving as a central hub and gateway for regional connectivity.
DigitalBridge had recently announced plans for investments in data centers, telecommunication towers and fiber-optic networks as part of the over RM4 billion investment expected in Malaysia, according to local reports. Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had mentioned that he was visited by the DigitalBridge delegation. DigitalBridge is a US-based digital infrastructure company.
Analysts anticipate that Malaysia will become a major Asian hub for data centers, with supportive pro-business policies to attract and retain data center investors.
Eerlier this month, MN Holdings Bhd had partnered with China’s Shanghai DC-Science Co Ltd to work together on building a high performance data center in Malaysia. The project is valued at an estimated US$600m. Development of Phase 1 of the project is expected to commence this year and operations are set to begin in the first half of 2024.
Knight Frank recently released a report showing Malaysia on top as the most desired destination for data center investment. The emergence of cloud service providers opening dedicated cloud regions further spurred the rapid expansion by data center operators in Malaysia. Amazon’s cloud computing unit announced that it will be investing $6 billion over the next 14 years in Malaysia. In 2021, Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, was appointed as a cloud service provider (CSP) for the Malaysian government.