Vertiv aims to strengthen the supply chain, regional resilience, and the capability to deploy integrated power and cooling infrastructure solutions following the official opening of its new manufacturing facility in Senai.
The opening of the approximately 236,000 square foot (21,900 square meter) factory positions Johor as a key axis on the global manufacturing, engineering, and logistics map of Vertiv due to its proximity to major regional technology hubs.
The strategic move by the global critical digital infrastructure giant is to support the surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and high-density computing in the Asia region, including Southeast Asia, North Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Vice President and General Manager of Vertiv Asia, Paul Churchill, said that the speed to penetrate the market has become a primary demand for customers nowadays, making Johor the most strategic location compared to other manufacturing hubs.
He said the Johor factory has the latest tech in the market and will also produce top accessories that are needed for the best data centres in the South-East Asia region.
"The surge in demand in this region, including Asia Pacific, is excellent. We are sure Malaysia will play a big part in the data centre industry, and Vertiv is confident that it will be among the leaders in the market in this region. Johor is an excellent and strategic location for this market."
Churchill added that shipments from India take an additional few weeks to reach this region, in addition to being exposed to the risk of disruptions in global shipping routes, such as the recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
"Through operations in Malaysia, we have better logistics options, including land transport to Thailand and several other locations. In fact, most shipping routes from here are much shorter, more efficient, and easier," he said.
"Looking at market projections, we predict that the Asia region will be the next market to witness a surge in highly active data center investments after the United States (US)."
"This series of investments is expected to continue for a period of at least three to five years to come," added Churchill.
“The Johor facility is designed to enhance how we support customers across Asia, through closer regional collaboration and more responsive execution for complex infrastructure deployments.
“As customers scale increasingly sophisticated AI and high-density environments, proximity, responsiveness, and execution capabilities become increasingly important.”
“Johor’s regional connectivity, expanding technology ecosystem, and skilled local talent pool contribute to its suitability as a location. This facility strengthens our ability to help our customers navigate evolving infrastructure requirements across the region.”
Also present was the Director of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Johor, Mohamad Reduan Mohd Zabri.
Meanwhile, Vertiv's Chief Executive Officer, Giordano Albertazzi, said that Asia continues to lead as one of the regions recording the fastest growth in AI and digital infrastructure investments.
"The expansion of the manufacturing footprint in Malaysia aims to further enhance the capability to support customers through aspects of quality, speed, large scale, and supply chain resilience."
"As the need for computing evolves across various generations of AI infrastructure, customers require partners who can provide power, cooling, and infrastructure solutions on a large scale," he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer of Invest Johor, Natazha Hariss, said that Vertiv's decision to invest in Johor demonstrates the high confidence of global investors in the state's role as a strategic hub for digital infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. Company News
"In addition to the influx of capital, what is more meaningful for this state is the creation of high-value job opportunities, the development of local talent, and the strengthening of industrial capabilities that will provide long-term economic spillover to Johor," he said.
The facility in Senai is specifically designed to support end-to-end manufacturing processes, installation, and validation testing for advanced thermal and power infrastructure for the enterprise, cloud, and colocation markets. GeographicReference
When fully operational by 2027, the opening of this factory is expected to create up to 500 high-skilled job opportunities for the local workforce.
For the record, Vertiv brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs.
Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries.
