AirTrunk to recycle wastewater for Johor data centres
Largest scheme of its kind in Malaysia.
AirTrunk has announced a landmark partnership with JSW to recycle wastewater for its Johor data centres.
This recycled water supply scheme is the largest of its kind in Malaysia to date, says Airtrunk in its announcement last week.
Recycled wastewater
AirTrunk and Johor Special Water (JSW), a state-owned enterprise, will jointly develop a recycled water supply to AirTrunk’s Johor data centre campuses.
AirTrunk has two data centre campuses in Johor, the 150MW JHB1 and the 270MW JHB2. JHB1 is operational (Phase 1) while JHB2 was announced in Feb 2025.
The recycled water will be produced from wastewater that is not currently being reused, supplied by the national wastewater utility, Indah Water Konsortium.
The initiative will require major investment in treatment and supply infrastructure but will help conserve vital water resources for local communities.
Running out of water
Data centres consume incredible amounts of water to keep servers cool, typically through cooling towers where water evaporates as the primary mechanism to remove heat.
The rapid rise of data centres in Malaysia, particularly in Johor, has badly strained water supplies, prompting Malaysia's main water regulator to announce upcoming guidelines for data centres' water use.
Details are still being drawn up, but it is expected to specify the proportions of water sources that can be used, as well as specifying guidelines to reduce water consumption.
AirTrunk's mystery data centre
No matter how you look at it, what AirTrunk is doing is a massive undertaking that is atypical of data centre developments where operators simply build and consume.
Last week, I wrote about a report on Bloomberg which pointed to a new 80MW AirTrunk data centre in Singapore.
As I wrote then, did the Singapore government agreed to allocate more capacity to AirTrunk outside of its DC-CFA process?
If AirTrunk is prepared to invest massively into sustainability initiatives like it is doing in Johor here, then this idea suddenly sounds a lot more believable.
