Data center news roundup: Google to invest in a data centre in Malaysia, and other updates

For PropertyGuru’s real estate news roundup, we zoom in on data centres. Google announced a USD2 billion investment in Malaysia. As Seoul struggles to supply a huge demand for data centres, smaller “edge” data centres could provide a new investment opportunity. And a major joint venture in Vietnam will develop, construct, and operate several data centre projects in Ho Chi Minh City.

Google to invest US$2 billion in Malaysia’s digital future

Google has announced a significant investment in Malaysia, committing USD2 billion to drive the nation’s digital transformation. This initiative includes the establishment of Google’s first data centre in Malaysia and a new Google Cloud region. This ambitious plan aims to cater to the increasing demand for cloud services and to support AI literacy programmes for students and educators.

The new data centre will be located in Sime Darby Property’s Elmina Business Park in Greater Kuala Lumpur. Once operational, the data centre will support popular Google services such as Search, Maps, and Workspace, serving billions of users worldwide, including those in Malaysia. DataCenterNews points out that this development marks Malaysia as the 12th country to house a Google data centre.

The Google Cloud region is designed to deliver high-performance, low-latency cloud services to diverse clientele, including large enterprises, startups, and public sector organisations. Customers will benefit from advanced controls ensuring high security, data residency, and compliance standards. This new cloud region will be supported by existing Google Cloud Dedicated Cloud Interconnect locations in Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur. It will join Google’s network of 40 cloud regions and 121 zones globally.

Gaining an edge in the Seoul data centre market

Smaller “edge” data centres could provide a new investment opportunity in Seoul, even as the city struggles to supply huge demand for data centres.

In response to demand from e-commerce, AI, and cloud operators, the Seoul Metropolitan Area will see data centre capacity more than double by 2027.

However, Savills research shows that more than half of the 33 approved projects for data centre development in the Seoul Metropolitan Area face challenges or delays. Key issues include difficulty locking in operators, delays in approval due to resident complaints, and construction setbacks.

At the same time, demand is also growing for edge data centres, which could offer an opportunity for real estate investors.

JoAnn Hong, Senior Director, Research & Consultancy, Korea at Savills, says: “Amid challenges with the supply of large-scale data centres, the rise of edge data centres is expected to redefine the market, driven by the growth of advanced industries.”

Edge data centres are smaller facilities located in urban areas in order to support demand for low latency from Internet of Things applications, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality, and streaming.

Latency is the delay between a request for data and the data being received. Minimised latency is important for applications such as autonomous vehicles, so they can react to their environment, and streaming or online gaming, to ensure smooth performance. Locating edge data centres close to the user lowers latency.

ST Telemedia partners VNG to build data centres in Vietnam

Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) has announced a joint venture with Vietnamese tech unicorn VNG Corporation for the development, construction, and operation of data centre projects in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

iTnews Asia reports the partners will build a new data centre with a potential capacity of up to 60 megawatts (MW) once fully constructed in 2026.

STT GDC is looking to continue the expansion of the first data centre building STT VNG Ho Chi Minh City 1 which will yield 9.6 megawatts total.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].