News roundup on data centres: India’s data centre boom drives property demand, and other stories

For PropertyGuru’s real estate news roundup, we focus on data centres. The growth of India’s data centre industry means more demand for real estate space. In other headlines, data centres for development in Malaysia will require an estimated aggregate size of 30,000 square metres, while the ASEAN region is becoming an in-demand secondary and tertiary data centre market.

India’s data centre boom to drive 10 msf real estate demand: Report

The Data Centre (DC) industry in India is set to witness remarkable growth, with projections of adding 791 MW capacity by 2026. This expansion will drive demand for 10 million square feet (msf) of real estate space, attracting investments worth USD5.7 billion. The surge is primarily fuelled by the increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As usage of AI gains pace, the demand for Indian DCs is expected to be in the range of 650-800 MW during 2024-26.

The exponential growth in computing power and the resulting new applications are expected to drive strong demand for the DC industry over the medium term. Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), who essentially offer IT infrastructure systems primarily for data storage and computing power accessible through the internet, have realigned their requirements to factor in AI-led demand. The CSPs have also announced higher investments to scale up AI-led growth.

Rachit Mohan, APAC lead, data centre leasing and head, data centre advisory, India, JLL, said in Housing.com, “The exponential growth in processing power and data volumes, driven by AI, necessitates the development of new data centres capable of meeting energy, processing, and cooling needs. The anticipated expansion and progression of diverse AI disciplines are projected to create additional demand for data centres, expanding their capacity requirements and advancing their capabilities”.

Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments plans data centres in Malaysia

Asia-Pacific Strategic Investments, a real estate developer listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), has finalised a deal to acquire Taiwanese sustainable data solutions provider Mobii Genius Co., Ltd for developing data centre facilities in Malaysia.

In iTnews Asia, APS said it would acquire a 100 percent stake in Mobii for USD150 million (SGD202 million). The company has expertise in constructing hospitality establishments and retirement communities. This would be its first venture into the data centre business.

While it did not disclose details on the location and specifications of planned facilities, the SGX filings said Mobii had identified two locations in Malaysia for development with an estimated aggregate size of 30,000 square metres.

ASEAN becoming a data centre hotbed

Demand in secondary and tertiary data centre markets continues to grow as operators and developers increasingly face power and land constraints in mature markets, according to the latest “Global Data Centre Market Comparison” report by the property services company Cushman & Wakefield in Bangkok Post.

Southeast Asia performs strongly in this regard, with Bangkok ranking third within the Asia-Pacific emerging markets category. Batam (Malaysia) and Manila are eighth and ninth, respectively, the report shows.

Bangkok’s regional ranking also lifts it into 10th place in the global emerging markets category.

Demand overflow is evident in emerging locations across Asia-Pacific including Osaka in Japan, Chennai and Hyderabad in India, and Johor and Batam in Malaysia. Each benefits from high competition for sites in nearby mature markets: Tokyo, Mumbai, and Singapore.

Singapore and Hong Kong both slipped out of the global established Top 10 ranking for data centres due to their limited land supply.

The Property Report editors wrote this article. For more information, email: [email protected].