Malaysia data centre capacity more than doubles in just two years

Johor Bahru now offers 1,310MW of capacity.

Singapore's established data centre ecosystem remains an important hub for Southeast Asia, even as tight land and power availability drives rapid capacity growth in neighbouring markets, according to Savills.

Analysis from Savills' Impacts global thought leadership programme shows that Malaysia has recorded the fastest capacity growth among major emerging markets, increasing by 132% in just two years. Johor Bahru, across the causeway from Singapore, has been a key contributor and now has 1,310 MW of live data centre IT capacity.

Indonesia's capacity has risen 66% since 2024, while India and Australia have grown 35% and 32%, respectively, according to Savills' analysis of data from DC Byte. Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Finland have also expanded rapidly, although their overall capacity remains relatively small on a global basis.

Savills' new Power and Place Index, which assesses 54 markets against physical and delivery constraints including power, water and climate, ranks Johor Bahru 18th globally for future data centre development potential.

Alan Cheong, executive director of research and consultancy at Savills Singapore, said Singapore should not be considered out of the data centre race despite its limited presence on Savills' development heat map.

"Operators of data centres who value data security and reduced latency to mission critical executions are pinning for a permit to build in Singapore," Cheong said. However, he added that land and resource constraints mean "only the cream of the crop will get an allocation to build."

Globally, the US remains the largest data centre market, with around 50 GW of live IT power, up 19% since 2024, followed by China. Japan, the UK, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands are also mature markets with substantial capacity, but their growth has been more modest as grid access constraints increase.

Savills said these established markets are likely to remain strategically important because of their connectivity and depth of customer demand, even as new development becomes more difficult because of rising costs, land shortages, limited grid capacity and other delivery constraints.

Paul Tostevin, head of Savills World Research, said the most notable shifts are taking place in smaller countries offering alternatives as developers increasingly follow available capacity rather than demand alone.

"The relative growth of countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia in just a couple of years has been extraordinary," Tostevin said, while cautioning that emerging markets will need to manage the same pressures increasingly affecting mature data centre locations, including grid access, energy costs, land and water availability, and environmental impact.