As Malaysia continues to grow as a strategic regional hub for digital interconnection between businesses, Equinix plans to open its first data centre in Kuala Lumpur in Q1 2024, following its expansion announcement last year to enter Malaysia with a data centre in Johor.
Spurred by strong cloud growth and e-commerce adoption, as well as its continued investment in 5G, Malaysia is one of the fastest-growing data centre markets in the ASEAN region, with much of the development attributed to Johor and Kuala Lumpur. Equinix’s expansion is expected to provide greater digital infrastructure capacity in Malaysia to address rising demand from local and global companies expanding in the country.
“Over the past several years, we have witnessed Malaysia emerge as an increasingly strategic location for global digital infrastructure, and we believe it to be an attractive destination for data centre growth and investment,” said Jeremy Deutsch, President, Asia-Pacific, Equinix.
“Following our initial investment in Johor, we are excited to add another data centre in Kuala Lumpur. By expanding Platform Equinix in the two most strategic metros in Malaysia, we will enable Malaysian businesses, as well as multinationals with a presence in Malaysia, to leverage a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure to power their success. We believe the two data centres will fuel Equinix’s existing data centre momentum and support Malaysia’s aspirations as a digitally driven connectivity hub.”
According to Synergy Research, Malaysia is already the third-largest data centre colocation market in the ASEAN region and is forecast to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 11% from 2022–2027.
“Malaysia is a vibrant market for digital infrastructure, driven by a strong economy, growing demand for digital services, a favourable location and increasing investments from the world’s leading hyperscale operators, said John Dinsdale, Chief Analyst and Research Director, Synergy Research Group. “That is opening up major long-term growth opportunities for leading data centre operators.”
With extensive global experience in supporting 5G development, Equinix’s new facility aims to accelerate the digital vision laid out in the government’s MyDIGITAL blueprint to establish Malaysia as a hub for colocation in ASEAN and a regional digital economic powerhouse.
The new KL1 facility in Kuala Lumpur, together with the recently announced JH1 in Johor, will also provide digital infrastructure that businesses need to capitalise on the country’s digital economy.
Mahadhir Aziz, Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), said:“Equinix’s investment and expansion in Malaysia propel us closer to our vision of firmly establishing Malaysia as the digital hub of ASEAN. “KL1 not only fortifies Malaysia’s digital infrastructure but also accelerates our ongoing Digital Transformation. This move signifies unwavering confidence in Malaysia’s resilient and robust data centre ecosystem, its digitally skilled talent pool and world-class infrastructure.”
YBhg. Datuk Wira Arham Abdul Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), said: “The two new data centres will play a pivotal role in accelerating the development of the nation’s digital economy. These data centres will act as catalysts for digital innovation, enabling businesses to harness the power of advanced technologies such as cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data analytics.”
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