JOHOR BARU, Oct 21 — Malaysia is still the most desirable location in the region for data centre hubs, said Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chief executive officer Datuk Wira Arham Abdul Rahman.

Supported by the country’s vast resources, favourable environment and advancement in digital infrastructure, Malaysia has developed into a mature market for data centres, he said in conjunction with the grand opening of Bridge Data Centres’ (BDC) first-phase hyperscale data centre in Sedenak, Johor, yesterday.

"This illustrates the country’s readiness to serve as a regional data centre hub,” he said in a joint statement by Mida, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and BDC today.

Arham said the grand opening marked the success of Malaysia as a competitive nation in attracting data centre investment.

He said Mida, through the Digital Investment Office and Project Acceleration and Coordination Unit, has been very supportive of this project since its pre-investment stage right up to the implementation phase.

"We are excited and honoured to have been chosen by BDC and ByteDance System Sdn Bhd as their choice of location for the establishment of this hyperscale data centre venture,” he added.

ByteDance System will be the anchor tenant of BDC’s hyperscale data centre with long-term investment commitment in the country.

Meanwhile, MDEC chief executive officer Mahadhir Aziz said the new facility will increase not only latency and efficiency but also will help attract other global businesses and investments into the country.

With the rapid growth of cloud service providers and digital media, BDC has full support from the US-based Bain Capital to expand its hyperscale data centre business in the Southeast Asia region.

The company will be building another 100 megawatts (MW) of data centres in the next five years across Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

The first phase of the data centre in Sedenak covers the first of the three buildings in the 110MW hyperscale data centre project which spans 15.4 hectares.

BDC is one of the largest data centre companies in the region, providing hyperscale and wholesale data centre solutions.

BDC is also the first company with Malaysia Digital status to complete the construction and handover the business-ready hyperscale data centre in 2022. — Bernama