Equinix, the global digital infrastructure company, has announced plans to open its first data center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the first quarter of 2024. This follows the company’s expansion announcement last year to enter Malaysia with a data center in Johor. The move is driven by the strong growth of cloud services, e-commerce adoption, and investments in 5G in Malaysia, making it one of the fastest growing data center markets in the ASEAN region. Equinix’s expansion aims to address the rising demand from local and global companies expanding their presence in Malaysia.

The new data center, named KL1, will be located in Cyberjaya within Kuala Lumpur and will provide an initial capacity of 450 cabinets and colocation space of 1,300 square meters. When fully built, it will offer a total of 900 cabinets and colocation space of 2,630 square meters. The facility will enable global networks, content providers, and enterprises to exchange high volumes of internet traffic through Equinix Internet Exchange.

Malaysia is already the third largest data center colocation market in the ASEAN region and is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of approximately 11% from 2022 to 2027. Equinix’s expansion aligns with Malaysia’s Phase 2 of the MyDIGITAL blueprint for a digital economy, positioning the country as a hub for colocation in ASEAN and a regional digital economic powerhouse.

Equinix currently operates 51 data centers in the Asia-Pacific region and is expanding its presence in Indonesia and Malaysia. The company’s investment in Malaysia reflects its confidence in the country’s potential as a top-tier data center destination and its commitment to supporting Malaysia’s digital economy.