Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), the largest electricity utility company in Malaysia, has introduced the Green Lane Pathway, a specialized initiative aimed at bolstering Malaysia’s data center market by providing streamlined and environmentally conscious solutions for data center operators.
This initiative is designed to simplify the onboarding process for data centers, expedite regulatory approvals, and facilitate efficient setup of data center operations within Malaysia.
The Green Lane Pathway encompasses accelerated electricity supply options, enabling data centers to be connected three times faster than the standard delivery time. This initiative is expected to reduce the implementation timeline from 36-48 months to just 12 months. Additionally, a One-Stop Centre (OSC) has been established to assist data center investors, offering dedicated support services.
The initiative’s objective is to attract a greater number of data center companies to establish their operations in Malaysia. To further enhance the offering, TNB is providing continuous maintenance support and customized solutions tailored to the specific requirements of each data center.
Simultaneously, there was a formalization of five strategic partnerships, executed through four Electricity Supply Agreements (ESA) with notable entities including Yellowwood Properties Sdn Bhd (Yondr), AirTrunk Malaysia Sdn Bhd (AirTrunk), SIPP Power Sdn Bhd (SIPP), and GDS IDC Malaysia Sdn Bhd (GDS). A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was established with MRANTI Corporation Sdn Bhd, signifying a multifaceted push toward strengthening Malaysia’s data center landscape.
Foreign investments continue to pour into the data center industry in Malaysia, with significant announcements from key players recently. Among the investments in the country include NextDC’s plans for a 65MW colocation data center. Additionally, Singtel and BridgeDC have also revealed their respective development projects in the region, signaling strong confidence in Malaysia’s data center market.
The other developments are AIMS Group which announced the construction of AIMS Cyberjaya Block 2. Vantage Data Centers also announced a second data center campus (KUL2) with an additional US$3 billion (RM13.32b) investment in Cyberjaya.
In May, Princeton Digital Group (PDG), entered into a definitive agreement with JLand Group Sdn Bhd (JLG), Johor Corporation’s real estate and infrastructure arm, to build a 150 MW hyperscale campus in Sedenak Tech Park (STeP) in Johor. MN Holdings Bhd announced its partnership with China’s Shanghai DC-Science Co Ltd to work together on building a high performance data center in Johor.
Earlier 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. Other leading data center providers in Malaysia include TM One, NTT Communications, Strateq, Basis Bay, HDC and others.