By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-03 01:06:37 | Updated at 2025-04-04 00:11:07
23 hours ago
Just off a narrow highway in rural Malaysia, a vast cluster of buildings flanked by rows of solar panels towers above the surrounding palm plantations.
The 275-acre (111-hectare) site, built by local conglomerate YTL Corporation, is filled with data centres to service an explosion in demand for processing power in the Southeast Asian nation.
Malaysia is rapidly emerging as a key front in a global computing arms race, as Western and Chinese technology giants rush to build data centres to power their evolving artificial intelligence models.
By the end of 2025, global demand for computing power will have soared to 10 times the level seen in 2023, with more than 40 per cent coming from Asia-Pacific, research firm IDC predicts.
Many of those extra servers are concentrated in Malaysia, as the country becomes a magnet for China’s tech companies.
For Chinese firms, Malaysia offers an enticing mix of advantages, including stable relations with China, low electricity costs, and greater access to cutting-edge semiconductors that are not available in China due to US export controls, analysts said.
“Chinese companies are the primary clients of data centres in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian areas,” said Joe Gao, a board member of IBuffett Investment Management, an investment firm specialising in Chinese AI businesses targeting the Southeast Asian market.
