Malaysia is among the Asia-Pacific nations rapidly developing its data center and artificial intelligence sectors. This rapid expansion has resulted in significant electricity consumption by these data centers.
This was highlighted by Siti Safinah Salleh, Chief Executive Officer of the Energy Commission, who noted that the sector currently accounts for 9.8 percent of Malaysia's total electricity consumption.
Furthermore, this percentage is expected to rise due to increased cooling demands driven by the hot weather the country is experiencing—and will continue to face—as well as the opening of new data centers around November.
She also mentioned that while national power demand has surpassed 21GW, peak capacity usage is not expected to surge drastically; however, overall energy consumption is projected to grow as more data centers come online.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, stated today that the Data Center Task Force under his ministry has received 40 applications this year from various companies. These applications seek to build new data centers or upgrade existing ones to meet the rising demand for processing power and data inference capabilities.
Through this task force, the Energy Commission and the National Water Services Commission are developing frameworks and guidelines to support the sustainable development of the data center industry.
Moving forward, data centers developed in Malaysia will utilize sustainable energy and water sources, featuring more efficient consumption patterns that do not place a burden on the energy needs of the general public or other business sectors. He also noted that the information and communications sub-sector—which encompasses the data center sector—reported approved investments worth RM103 billion during the first half of 2026, with total investments in the services sector estimated at RM149 billion.
Data center and cloud computing projects alone contributed RM95.8 billion, or nearly 44% of the total approved investments during that period, while data center-related investment approvals have reached RM385.7 billion since 2021.
