Cushman & Wakefield, a global real estate services company, has released its Asia Pacific Data Center H1 2024 update.
The report shows the APAC data centre market recorded 1.3GW of new supply in the first six months of the year, to reach a current operational capacity of 11.6GW.
Malaysia, predominantly Johor, saw the greatest increase in operational capacity, up 80% from H2 2023.
The Head of Cushman & Wakefield’s Data Centre Advisory Team in Asia Pacific, Vivek Dahiya, said:
“Malaysia’s recent growth is the result of a culmination of factors including spillover from Singapore, developer speed to market and the country’s ‘ready for service’ infrastructure.
Cost is also a major factor. Malaysia’s central bank rate is competitive and this, combined with a relatively affordable cost of entry and government incentives for the sector, make it an appealing location for customers from hyperscalers through new entrants to the sector.”
The influence of technological advancements such as the implementation of cloud computing, deployment of 5G networks, government digitization initiatives and increasing mobile and internet penetration, especially in fast growing populations, have significantly accelerated the demand for data centres globally.
In Asia Pacific, the largest six markets account for ~85% of operational capacity. Sydney is the fastest growing market in Asia Pacific by megawatt growth, adding 177MW in operational capacity in H1.
The development pipeline2 includes 4.2GW of under construction activity and 12.0GW in the planning stage. This represents an increase of 2.8GW in development activity since end-H2 2023.
The report names the regions powerhouse markets as Sydney, Johor, Beijing, Tokyo, Mumbai and Shanghai.
Sydney is also considered the most mature market in the region, based on a combination of variables including size, vacancy rate, operator presence and individual asset level build capacities.
Established markets are identified as Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka and Jakarta.
These prominent markets have either exceeded 1.0GW size or are approaching 1.0GW with many benefiting from strategic geographic locations and connectivity, the report says.
APAC’s developing markets are listed as Delhi, Pune, Guangzhou, Bangkok, Bengaluru, Taipei and Manila.
The report says emerging markets cumulatively account for about 3% of the total operational capacity in APAC.
The under-construction pipeline for these markets remains in the single digits as operators wait for further evidence of demand before converting planned capacity into operational.
