The data centre industry in Asia Pacific continues to demonstrate dynamic growth with no signs of a deceleration. Southeast Asia is at the forefront of this growth, receiving billions of dollars of investments from hyperscalers and colocation operators, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia. In June 2024, Google Cloud announced a US$2 billion investment to develop its first data centre in Malaysia, followed by Oracle’s commitment of more than US$6.5 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing infrastructure in October 2024.

This marks a significant shift in the data centre development landscape, as data centres have historically been established in developed markets with strong internet infrastructure. Yet, these markets are becoming less attractive as AI workloads rise. In contrast to primary markets, the availability of affordable power and water makes secondary markets ideal candidates for data centre development. The evolving data centre landscape refle