Equinix plans to open its first data centre in Kuala Lumpur in first quarter of 2024, following its expansion announcement last year to enter Malaysia with a data centre in Johor.
Malaysia is one of the fastest growing data center markets in the ASEAN region, with much of the development attributed to Johor and Kuala Lumpur.
Equinix’s expansion is expected to provide greater digital infrastructure capacity in Malaysia to address rising demand from local and global companies expanding in the country.
The company’s new facility aims to accelerate the digital vision laid out in the government’s MyDIGITAL blueprint to establish Malaysia as a hub for colocation in ASEAN and a regional digital economic powerhouse.
The new facility in Kuala Lumpur, named KL1, together with the recently announced JH1 in Johor, will also provide digital infrastructure that businesses need to capitalise on the country’s digital economy.
Jeremy Deutsch, president of Equinix in the Asia-Pacific region, said that over the past several years, they have witnessed Malaysia emerge as an increasingly strategic location for global digital infrastructure, and they believe it to be an attractive destination for data centre growth and investment.
“By expanding Platform Equinix in the two most strategic metros in Malaysia, we will enable Malaysian businesses, as well as multinationals with a presence in Malaysia, to leverage a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure to power their success,” said Deutsch.
“We believe the two data centres will fuel Equinix’s existing data centre momentum and support Malaysia’s aspirations as a digitally driven connectivity hub,” he added.
The KL1 IBX data centre will be located in Cyberjaya within Kuala Lumpur, a government-designated zone to promote and boost Malaysia’s digital economy.
Scheduled to open in the first quarter 2024, the first phase of KL1 will provide an initial capacity of 450 cabinets and colocation space of 1,300 square meters. When fully built, it will provide a total of 900 cabinets and colocation space of 2,630 square meters.
Also, KL1 will enable global networks, content providers and enterprises to exchange high volumes of internet traffic via Equinix Internet Exchange.
Internet service providers will have access to new digital corridors to exchange data directly with other internet service providers, participating in the flourishing digital economy and e-commerce landscape in ASEAN.
In APAC, Equinix currently operates 51 data centers in 13 metros across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore, with expansions announced in Indonesia and Malaysia.
