As Malaysia continues to grow as a strategic regional hub for digital interconnection between businesses, new plans to expand its digital infrastructure platform have been announced.

Equinix, a company that provides digital infrastructure around the world, recently announced plans to open its first data center in Kuala Lumpur in the first quarter of next year, following its expansion plan in Johor, Malaysia, last year.

Driven by rapid growth in the cloud, adoption of e-commerce and continued investment in 5G, Malaysia is one of the fastest-growing data centre markets in the ASEAN region, with Johor and Kuala Lumpur leading the way.

Through this expansion, Equinix expects to meet the growing demand from local and global businesses in Malaysia while providing extensive digital infrastructure capacity.

As Malaysia enters Phase 2 of its MyDIGITAL blueprint for a digital economy, demand for digital infrastructure is expected to remain robust.

According to Synergy Research,Laxia is already the third largest data center colocation market in the ASEAN region and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 11% from 2022 to 2027.

With extensive global experience supporting 5G development, Equinix aims to accelerate the digital vision outlined in the Malaysian government’s MyDigital blueprint to position Malaysia as an ASEAN colocation hub and regional digital economic powerhouse through this data centre.

Kuala Lumpur’s first data centre, KL1, along with the recently announced JH1 in Johor, will provide the digital infrastructure needed for enterprises to capitalise on Malaysia’s digital economy.

“Over the past few years, we have witnessed Malaysia emerge as a strategic hub for global digital infrastructure, and we believe it is an attractive location for data centre growth and investment,” said Jeremy Deutsch, President, APAC, Equinix. “By expanding our platform in two of the most strategic metropolitan areas in Malaysia, we will enable Malaysian enterprises and multinationals in Malaysia to integrate and interconnect their foundational infrastructure on a trusted platform.”

The KL1 IBX data centre will be located in Cyberjaya, Kuala Lumpur. Cyberjaya is known to be a key area of the Multimedia Super Corridor, a state-of-the-art information industry development zone designated by the Malaysian government to promote and invigorate Malaysia’s digital economy.

Scheduled to open in Q1 2024, Phase 1 of KL1 will initially offer 450 cabinets and 1,300 sq m of colocation space. Once completed, it will offer a total of 900 cabinets and 2,630 square meters of colocation space.

KL1 enables global networks, content providers and enterprises to exchange large amounts of Internet traffic via Equinix Internet Exchange. Through the world’s largest global peering solution, Internet Service Providers will have access to a new digital corridor where they can exchange data directly with other Internet Service Providers, enabling them to participate in Malaysia’s growing digital economy and e-commerce ecosystem.

Malaysia’s digital infrastructure and cloud services also provide additional capacity to meet the digital infrastructure needs of neighboring Singapore. Equinix currently operates 51 data centers in 13 metros across Asia Pacific, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, and recently announced expansion plans in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“Malaysia is viewed as a dynamic market for digital infrastructure due to its strong economy, growing demand for digital services, advantageous location and increasing investment from leading global hyperscalers,” said John Dinsdale, Senior Analyst and Research Director at Synergy Research Group. “This presents significant long-term growth opportunities for leading data centre operators.”