AirTrunk to invest $3b in new Malaysia data centers

AirTrunk, a hyperscale data center operator in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, will invest 12 billion ringgit (US$3 billion), in two new campuses in Iskandar Puteri in Johor, Malaysia.

The projects will add more than 280MW of IT load and lift AirTrunk’s Malaysia capacity to more than 700MW across four campuses.

Total committed investment at about 27 billion ringgit (US$6.8 billion).

AirTrunk said the expansion is to meet demand from cloud and AI customers.

It is expected to create more than 3,000 construction jobs, while local supplier spending across its Johor sites could reach 5 billion ringgit (US$1.26 billion).

🔗 Source: AirTrunk

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Johor grows as Singapore hits limits and Malaysia offers incentives

AirTrunk’s move into Johor came after Singapore’s 2019 moratorium, a temporary freeze on new data center projects, pushed demand across the border 1.
Malaysia has courted investors with tax allowances plus Tenaga Nasional Berhad’s (TNB) Green Lane Pathway, a program meant to cut grid-connection wait times from 36 to 48 months to 12 months 2.
Johor now has 1.4 gigawatts of committed projects, compared with about 445 megawatts in Singapore, making it one of the region’s fastest-growing data center markets 1.

Data center growth strains Malaysia’s power system and public finances

This buildout is putting pressure on Malaysia’s public infrastructure.
By December 2024, Malaysia had 38 data center projects with Electricity Supply Agreements (ESAs), contracts that set power-supply terms, for a total maximum demand of 5.9 gigawatts. That equals nearly 43% of TNB’s total contracted capacity of 13.76 gigawatts, while actual load use then was 405 megawatts 3.
Electricity prices are a concern after TNB proposed a tariff increase from July 2025. Analysts say part of the rise may come from grid upgrade costs tied to rising demand, and some have compared it with rate increases in Georgia, a U.S. state 3.
Fossil fuels supplied more than 95% of the energy available to Malaysia in 2022 4.
AirTrunk’s 150 megawatt JHB1 hyperscale facility in Johor has a solar-ready roof that produces 1 megawatt, or about 2% of the current phase’s energy needs 3.