Malaysia’s resource anxiety tests Asia’s fastest data center build-out

HONG KONG/JOHOR, Malaysia – After leapfrogging Singapore to become the region’s fastest-growing data center hub, Malaysia is facing intensifying scrutiny as the resources debate that has complicated the industry’s growth spreads to emerging Asia.

Protests over a data center complex in Johor state’s southern tip — the epicenter of the boom — were the first of their kind in the country. In Selangor, the richest and most populous state, debate about the burden on communities has become politicized.

“Two years ago, it was just about building capacity,” said Cheam Tat Inn, managing director at the Malaysian arm ​of U.S. data center operator Equinix.