Singapore, Malaysia Telecom Giants Join Forces for 200MW Johor Data Centre Campus

State-backed telcos Singtel and Telekom Malaysia have formed a joint venture to develop Malaysian data centres, starting with a hyperscale campus in the digital infrastructure hotbed of Johor with a potential capacity of 200 megawatts.

The partnership of TM and Nxera, a regional data centre business backed by Singapore’s Singtel, plans an initial phase of 64MW at the campus in western Johor’s Iskandar Puteri, a mere 16 kilometres (10 miles) from the city-state. Projects under the JV are to be served by Singtel’s network of subsea fibre-optic cables spanning over 415,000 kilometres, the parties said Tuesday in a release.

“We are excited to enter the Malaysian market with TM as our strategic partner,” said Bill Chang, CEO of Nxera, which is also backed by US private equity giant KKR. “This collaboration advances our vision to be the region’s leading sustainable, hyperconnected AI-ready data centre platform, supporting businesses with the digital infrastructure needed for the growing demand for cloud, digitalisation and AI.”

The JV was announced on the same day that KKR and Singtel revealed an agreement to invest as much as $2.2 billion for up to an 18.3 percent combined stake in ST Telemedia Global Data Centres. Singtel and STT GDC are both controlled by government-owned Temasek Holdings.

Cutting-Edge Capabilities

The planned campus in Iskandar Puteri will be designed for the large computing and artificial intelligence capabilities sought by cloud hyperscalers and GPU-as-a-service providers, featuring advanced technologies like liquid cooling to support high-power-density workloads.

The data centre aims for LEED certification with an emphasis on greater energy efficiency and sustainable practices.

“Establishing a hyper-connected AI-ready data centre marks the next phase in our long-standing partnership with Singtel, leveraging our strengths and commitment to elevate ASEAN as the preferred digital hub destination,” said TM CEO Amar Huzaimi Md Deris. “TM brings the largest domestic network infrastructure, extensive international subsea cable systems and the largest interconnected DC in Malaysia, a solid backbone for this project.”

Nxera is currently developing three data centres to add to its existing 62MW of capacity in Singapore, including a new 58MW facility in the Lion City’s Tuas area and joint projects in Indonesia and Thailand. Nxera’s pipeline capacity is expected to increase to more than 200MW regionwide in the next three years.

TM, whose key shareholders are various state-managed funds, operates seven data centres across Malaysia, including in Johor and the Klang Valley.

Regional Standout

Increased activity in Johor has helped push Malaysia to the top of the list of APAC’s fastest-growing data centre markets, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

Last week, Malaysian developer UEM Sunrise announced an agreement to sell two parcels of land in the state to a “global data centre player” for MYR 144.9 million ($30.7 million).

Located in Iskandar Puteri’s East Ledang township, the freehold plots measure 28.9 acres (11.7 hectares) in total and will be developed into a data centre expected to feature cutting-edge technologies. An account in The Edge Malaysia linked the deal to Singtel, but a Singtel spokesperson told Mingtiandi this week that the campus with TM was not being developed on UEM’s land.

In another deal disclosed last week, a data centre unit of tech giant Microsoft agreed to acquire a development site at EcoWorld’s Eco Business Park VI in Johor’s Kulai district for MYR 402.3 million ($85.5 million) in cash.