Risk in data centre gold rush

A number of new hyperscalers have entered the market, mainly in Johor, putting the planned DC capacity build-out at a massive 1,400MW over the next 10 years or so. — Photo: Image by rorozoa on Freepik

IN a gold rush, sell shovels. This is already evident in the Malaysian data centre (DC) boom.

A number of Malaysian landowners have reaped decent gains by selling land to DC operators, mainly in Johor. Some are winning construction and engineering contracts from DC operators, while others provide electricity-related services, which are much needed by energy-guzzling DCs that want to hook up to the national grid.