Telekom Malaysia and Singtel partner up to develop data centres in Johor

Telecommunication giants Telekom Malaysia and Singtel are joining hands to develop and operate a data centre campus in Johor. The joint venture will be established between Telekom Malaysia's TM DC Educity and Singtel's Nxera MY. The joint venture's total committed equity funding will amount to approximately RM1.152 billion.

In a joint statement, the companies said the total committed equity funding amount is subject to change, depending on the approved business plan of the joint venture at any point in time. Under the joint venture, Nxera MY and TM DC Educity will hold stakes of 49% and 51% respectively in a newly-incorporated Malaysian company called ST Dynamo DC (DC Co). 

Don't miss: Google invests US$2 billion in Malaysia to develop data centre and cloud region

This strategic partnership aims to serve the needs of hyperscalers, next-generation AI application providers and enterprises pursuing accelerated digitalisation and cloud in the region. It will first develop a data centre located in Iskandar Puteri and will be the largest centre to date for both Telekom Malaysia and Nxera MY.

"Establishing a hyper-connected AI-ready data centre marks the next phase in our long-standing partnership with Singtel, leveraging our strengths and commitment to elevate ASEAN as the preferred digital hub destination," said Amar Huzaimi Md Deris, Telekom Malaysia’s group chief executive officer.

Amar explained that Telekom Malaysia brings the largest domestic network infrastructure, extensive international subsea cable systems and the largest interconnected DC in Malaysia.

"This collaboration of two main telcos in the region is unique and has positive impact to the development of digital ecosystem that not only benefit the businesses but also nurturing future talent," added Amar. "Through this partnership, Telekom Malaysia continues to demonstrate its dedication to delivering innovative and sustainable solutions, marking a pivotal step in our aspiration to becoming a digital powerhouse by 2030.”

The initial phase of the data centre is planned for 64MW and can be scaled up to 200MW in response to market demand. The campus will be able to host large computing and AI capabilities such as requirements by cloud hyperscalers, GPU-as-a-service providers and features advanced technologies such as liquid cooling to support high-power density workloads and operations efficiently. 

"We are excited to enter the Malaysian market with Telekom Malaysia as our strategic partner. This collaboration advances our vision to be the region’s leading sustainable, hyperconnected AI-ready data centre platform, supporting businesses with the digital infrastructure needed for the growing demand for cloud, digitalisation and AI," said Bill Chang, CEO of Nxera and Singtel's Digital InfraCo unit. 

Chang explained that the development of this first data centre campus in Johor can be expanded in phases and demonstrates Singtel's ability to scale quickly in markets that are important to its customers. "With our joint industry expertise and strong track record, we will build and operate one of the most efficient, sustainable and connectivity-rich data centres in Malaysia," said Chang.

In addition to data centres, this partnership will be expanding the submarine cable connectivity between Singapore and Johor to enhance digital connectivity, said Chang in a statement. The joint venture will also partner institutes of higher learning in Malaysia to nurture talent for Singtel and Telekom Malaysia's projects and the industry.

"Our strategy of developing data centre sites with close proximity to our operations in Singapore allow us to capture spill-over demand from our customers and help them scale their business with confidence," added Chang. 

Telekom Malaysia will contribute its expertise in the region’s network infrastructure deployment to deliver customised range of wholesale data, connectivity, data centre and platform solutions catering to both local and international needs. Additionally, Telekom Malaysia will also provide cloud services via its sovereign Cloud Alpha Edge solution. Telekom Malaysia currently operates seven data centres across Malaysia with two core data centres located in Klang Valley and Johor. 

Meanwhile, Nxera MY will leverage its data centre operations in Singapore to expand overseas. 

Customers can also tap into a host of services such as Singtel’s Paragon cloud orchestration platform and upcoming GPU-as-a-Service. They will be able to orchestrate their AI workloads in a multi-network and multi-cloud environment, serving as a catalyst for greater innovation, entrepreneurship and business excellence.

Currently, Nxera MY is developing three new AI-ready data centres in the region in addition to 62MW of existing capacity in Singapore. This includes a new 58MW data centre in Tuas, Singapore and data centres with partners in Indonesia and Thailand.  This news comes after tech giant Google invested US$2 billion in Malaysia to accelerate digital transformation in the country in late May this year.

This includes the development of its first Google data centre and Google Cloud region to meet the growing demand for cloud services locally and around the world.  The site of the Malaysia investments will be in Sime Darby Property's Elmina Business Park, in Greater Kuala Lumpur. 

The Google data centre will power Google's popular digital services, such as Search, Maps, and Workspace. It will also play an essential role in enabling Google to deliver the benefits of Al to users and customers across the country. When operational, Malaysia will join the 11 countries where Google has built and now operates data centres serving users around the world.

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