Equinix is constructing its second Johor data centre

Equinix has an unannounced data centre in Johor, which will eventually give it 4 data centres in Malaysia.

The unannounced data centre site was chanced upon by Goh Gary at Nusajaya Tech Park last week, and he snapped a photo of the project signboard as proof.

Turns out Equinix exercised its option – mentioned in its 2022 press release, of acquiring additional land to build a second facility at Nusajaya Tech Park.

Equinix in Malaysia

For almost two decades, Equinix has steadily expanded its data centre footprint to five data centres in Singapore to serve Southeast Asia (SEA).

In recent years, Equinix has expanded into other SEA nations, namely Malaysia and Indonesia. The growth is the most startling in Malaysia.

From zero data centres in Malaysia in 2023, Equinix has 2 live data centres in the country currently, with 2 more on the way.

Operational:

• DC1: KL1 in Kuala Lumpur.
• DC2: JH1 in Johor, Nusajaya Tech Park.

Under construction:

• DC3: KL2 (Announced July 2024).
• DC4: Unannounced 4th data centre.

Considering that the much larger KL2 is less than 1km from KL1 and is meant to complement its capacity, it stands to reason that the 4th data centre will similarly complement JH1.

White hot growth in Johor

The growth of data centres in Malaysia is nothing short of stunning, particularly in Johor.

To put things into perspective, Johor had just 10MW of data centre capacity at the start of 2021. As of December 2023, this has jumped to over 1GW with many more facilities under construction.

At W.Media - Global gathering over the weekend, a senior manager from a data centre engineering firm spoke of requests to design standalone 132kV power substations to be used solely by data centres.

Potential problems

Beyond trouble with a shortage of water and power, what are some issues that this rapid growth can cause?

🔸Some in the industry had privately expressed concerns of strained networks in the face of the rapid growth. However, others are more sanguine and noted how inter-Malaysia traffic has already increased multiplefold without a hitch.

🔸The aggressive build times in Johor could be another concern. As I wrote on Saturday, is the pace sustainable and can the manufacturing capacity of modular data centre components - required to sustain such rapid construction - keep up? Also, are corners cut or are shortcuts taken?

(Read "Lithium-ion battery fire shakes up data centre industry" here.)

Unfiltered Friday

Are you involved in the Johor data centre market?

What do you think:

• Are these concerns valid?
• Are there additional issues?

Feel free to comment, direct message me, or text me for my next Unfiltered Friday.