Company pledges clean energy and water infrastructure to address electricity and cooling-water concerns
Google has decided to invest $15 billion, approximately 20.1 trillion won, in Malaysia over the next two years to build AI infrastructure, including data centers, and invest in clean energy and water resources in response to rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence services in Southeast Asia.
In a statement on November 4, local time, Google said it would expand the $2 billion, approximately 2.68 trillion won, Malaysian AI infrastructure investment plan announced in 2024 and invest $15 billion in 2027–2028.
Through this investment, the company plans to build new data centers in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, in addition to its first data center in Selangor on the Malay Peninsula.
Addressing the enormous electricity and cooling-water consumption of data centers, which has recently generated controversy worldwide, Google emphasized, “We will cover the full cost of electricity used at our data center campuses and the direct infrastructure costs required to connect them to the grid,” adding, “We will comply with all relevant local regulations in the process.”
To this end, the company pledged to add more than 1 GW of clean energy generation capacity to Malaysia’s national power grid.
It also plans to invest $160 million, approximately 214 billion won, in shared water infrastructure in Negeri Sembilan, supporting data center operations while also benefiting local communities.
Ruth Porat, chief investment officer of Google parent Alphabet, announced the investment plan at an event in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, that day. Porat said the investment “reflects our confidence in Malaysia’s leadership capabilities, skilled workforce and enthusiasm for digital transformation.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who also attended the event, said, “Our country has the stability, talent and ambition to become Southeast Asia’s leading digital powerhouse.” Anwar said Google’s investment respected Malaysia’s resources and demonstrated confidence in its people.
Google said the data center investment is expected to generate an annual average of $1.1 billion, approximately 1.47 trillion won, in value added for Malaysia’s economy during construction and create about 37,000 local jobs each year.
The company also said that once the facilities are fully operational, they are expected to sustain about 9,000 local jobs, including technicians, mechanical and electrical engineers, and logistics and security managers. Average wages for these jobs are expected to be 45% higher than Malaysia’s national median wage.
Malaysia has emerged as a Southeast Asian data center hub, supported by relatively low costs, reliable infrastructure and proximity to economic centers such as Singapore.
As Amazon, Alibaba, ByteDance and Oracle have successively invested in Malaysian data centers, more than half of the data center capacity currently under construction in Southeast Asia is concentrated in Malaysia, according to market research firm DC Byte.
However, as electricity and water concerns have emerged over data center expansion, the Malaysian government’s policy is to approve data center construction plans only where adequate energy and water supply capacity is available.
Original Korean article: Yonhap News
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
