AZEEM AZHAR
On the southern tip of Malaysia lies the state of Johor, renowned for its beaches and mountainous jungle. But Johor has a new boom industry: data centers to power generative AI, with Microsoft committing more than $2 billion on just such a data center. For the tech giants, electricity has become the new oil. A state-of-the-art AI data center might need 90 megawatts, enough to power tens of thousands of American homes. With AI applications proliferating, from chatbots to AI agents, needs are growing. One industry consortium is planning for data centers requiring 10 gigawatts (more than a hundred times the demand of today’s largest). Securing cheap, reliable power is now as crucial to tech firms as silicon chips.
In 2025, the big tech firms will scour the globe for kilowatts, megawatts, and gigawatts. In board meetings, discussions about server capacity are increasingly overshadowed by discussions on grid capacity and energy futures. Nations blessed with abundant low-cost energy are leveraging this newfound advantage and crafting policies to attract AI investments with the zeal once reserved for manufacturing.
Regions that have historically won the data center ark, such as Ireland and Singapore, have found their capacity strained to bursting before the GenAI boom. This has created opportunities for unlikely competitors, not just Malaysia but Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Chile. Latency is less important than keeping the electrons flowing.
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