The new data centre campus, called JHB1, will cover 10.3 hectares of land in Johor Bahru, which sits at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and is connected to Singapore via a kilometre-long causeway across the Straits of Johor.
CTO Damien Spillane (pictured) said: “With its flexible designs and innovations driving energy and water efficiencies in tropic climates, JHB1 will be the most sustainable data centre in Malaysia. In line with our net zero by 2030 target, we are working with our customers to source renewable energy to match electricity consumption at the data centre.”
JHB1 will serve a major cloud availability zone for AirTrunk’s customers. The campus will also be connected to regional technology hubs including Singapore.
“JHB1 will be anchored by one of the world’s largest technology companies,” said AirTrunk, though it has not yet named the company.
Founder and CEO Robin Khuda said: “It is an exciting time for our business as we announce a new data centre in a new country with a large anchor tenant. AirTrunk continues to develop critical digital infrastructure to support accelerating digitalisation in the region.”
AirTrunk will fund JHB1 via its sustainability-linked loan framework and the campus “will include a number of sustainable innovations to ensure AirTrunk continues to deliver the most sustainable data centres in the region”.
Liquid cooling technology will enable AirTrunk customers to deploy high density racks, reducing energy consumption by up to 20%, the company said.
The data centre will be fitted with what it calls “a solar-ready roof, equipped to add 5MW of solar panels”.
AirTrunk is aiming for a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.15, and says it will offer renewable energy supply options to customers.
The initial phases of JHB1 will provide 50MW of capacity, with construction commencing shortly and due for completion in 2024. The data centre is ready to scale out to a total capacity of more than 150MW, with further expansion based on customer demand, said AirTrunk.
