KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher on Wednesday on selective buying of defensive stocks after a volatile trading session. IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said consumer products and services stocks lifted the key index higher, overcoming lingering geopolitical concerns. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.08 points to 1,715.56 from yesterday’s close of 1,712.48. The benchmark index, which opened 1.91 points higher at 1,714.39, moved between 1,710.79 and 1,720.59 during the day’s trading. In the broader market, gainers outstripped decliners 550 to 476, while 612 counters were unchanged, 1,129 untraded, and 48 suspended. Turnover rose to 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.48 billion from 2.94 billion units valued at RM2.56 billion on Tuesday.
South-East Asia Emerges as Global Data Centre Hotspot Amid Rising AI Usage, With Malaysia and Singapore Among Leaders
South-East Asia is becoming a key region for data centres as global demand for AI-driven infrastructure and computing power surges. This trend is being fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence technologies like ChatGPT, which require significantly more processing capacity than traditional internet searches, driving the region’s data centre demand to grow by 20% annually for the next five to seven years, according to analysts at Maybank.
Top technology companies, including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google, are investing heavily in the region, attracted by lower costs, power availability, and geopolitical neutrality. These investments are creating skilled jobs and enhancing digital infrastructure, which will benefit both small businesses and large institutions by enabling local data storage, improving data sovereignty, and reducing downtime.
Key players in the region include Malaysia and Singapore, both emerging as data centre hubs. Malaysia, in particular, has capitalized on Singapore’s 2019–2022 moratorium on data centre construction, which was imposed to assess the environmental impact. Malaysia now expects facilities with 1GW of power capacity to come online in the next two years, with an additional 3GW potentially rolling out in the next five years.
Investments in Malaysia include:
- Microsoft: Committing US$2.2 billion for cloud and AI infrastructure over the next four years.
- AWS: Announcing plans to invest US$6.2 billion in a data centre and cloud region.
- Google: Committing US$1 billion to build a data centre in Thailand.
Johor is set to play a major role in Malaysia’s data centre growth, with over 2.3GW of inventory expected by 2028, positioning the state in close competition with Singapore as a regional data hub. However, Singapore remains the preferred destination for mission-critical applications, despite high construction costs and environmental concerns related to its data centres’ carbon emissions.
While Singapore has lifted its moratorium and awarded 80MW of new capacity to operators like Equinix, GDS, and Microsoft, it is adopting a more selective approach. The government plans to add another 200MW of capacity but will prioritize operators that can leverage green energy.
The price gap between operating data centres in Singapore and Johor, coupled with improving infrastructure in Malaysia, could shift more data centre investments to Johor, according to CBRE data. Construction costs in Johor are significantly lower, which, alongside low energy and land costs, may spur more enterprises to relocate their operations.
As the region continues to attract investments, the data centre industry in South-East Asia is expected to play a pivotal role in supporting the global AI revolution while driving economic growth.
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