Historically, infrastructure demand largely tracked population growth and human consumption patterns. Increasingly, however, infrastructure demand is being driven by machines rather than people. Artificial intelligence (AI) represents the most powerful manifestation of this shift, with digital systems operating continuously and generating persistent demand for compute capacity, connectivity and electricity.
This trend is particularly evident across Asia Pacific. Data center capacity is projected to grow from approximately 32 gigawatts in 2025 to 57 gigawatts by 2030, according to JLL’s 2026 Global Data Center Outlook, representing the fastest expansion of electricity-intensive infrastructure in the region’s history. This growth is predominantly driven by a significant uptick in demand from AI workloads.
Across Southeast Asia, in markets and locations such as Johor, Malaysia, data center power demand could expand several-fold by 2035. Hyperscale operators a
