Data centres are emerging in Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state is emerging as a new hub for data centres as the top market of Johor grapples with the facilities’ voracious consumption of energy and water.

Two data centres are being developed in Negeri Sembilan, Bernama reported, citing the state’s Chief Minister Aminuddin Harun. One will be a green data centre developed by US investors, while the other is an artificial intelligence data centre by local construction firm Gamuda Bhd, he said on Monday (Apr 28).

The data centres were drawn to the state’s ability to meet their infrastructure requirements and its good highway network, Aminuddin said. Negeri Sembilan is located on Malaysia’s southwest coast, and is about an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur.

The data-centre boom is spilling over to Negeri Sembilan, with Malaysia’s southern state of Johor slowing the pace of approvals amid concerns that the facilities were putting a strain on its resources. The spurt helped investments in Johor climb 12 per cent to RM48.5 billion (S$14.6 billion) last year.

Aminuddin said Gamuda will construct and develop a water treatment plant with a capacity of 67 million litres (17.7 million gallons) per day to ensure sufficient supply for areas surrounding the data centres. The state government will carefully assess future data centre proposals given their high water needs, he added.

Earthworks have already begun on both projects, which are expected to create high-quality job opportunities, increase investment and tax revenue, said Aminuddin. BLOOMBERG