Malaysia recorded $32.5 billion in cumulative foreign investment in its information and communication sector by the first quarter of 2026. Developers, meanwhile, are pursuing data-center and cloud projects that need land, electricity, water and reliable connectivity. These figures track capital moving into infrastructure for cloud computing and artificial intelligence; they don’t show how much investment has already been realized.
Where Capital Is Going
Malaysia’s Department of Statistics recorded $11 billion in cumulative foreign investment in the information and communication sector in the first quarter of 2023, equal to 5% of total foreign investment. By the first quarter of 2026, that figure had climbed to $32.5 billion, or 12% of total inbound investment.
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority said $96 billion in data-center and cloud-computing projects were approved between 2021 and the first quarter of 2026. That total includes $24 billion approved in the first half of 2026. These approvals cover proposed projects, not completed spending or facilities already in operation.
Malaysia’s policy guidance, infrastructure and proximity to land-constrained Singapore have helped attract development, particularly around the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone. Countries with suitable infrastructure, affordable inputs and investor-friendly regulation are drawing projects that need substantial land, power, water and access to subsea cable networks.
Indonesia is drawing investment around Batam, too, where projects serve demand from Singapore. Batam’s Nongsa Digital Park Special Economic Zone offers eligible projects tax and other fiscal incentives, while subsea cable connectivity has helped support new construction.
In and around Jakarta, state-backed Telkom, private-sector firms and investors are developing large industrial-scale data centers. Indonesia has about 580 MW of current capacity and plans to reach 1.3 GW in the near term. Government data showed investment in information services rose from $967 million in 2023 to $3.4 billion in 2025.
Public Policy and Resource Demands
Thailand’s Board of Investment received applications in 2025 worth $24 billion across 151 digital-industry projects, mainly data centers. The applications aren’t all expected to win approval or become operational.
Vietnam’s government plans to reach 870 MW of data-center capacity by 2030, local media reported. Across the region, expansion reflects expectations that businesses and consumers will spend billions on cloud computing, AI and other digital services. But the scale of planned investment has raised questions about whether demand will justify the outlays and resource use.
Samsung is expanding beyond chips with a $1 billion investment in Helix Digital Infrastructure, a new AI infrastructure company backed by global investment firm KKR. According to the report, six Samsung affiliates are participating.
Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent, signed agreements with Australia’s Firmus for graphics processing unit compute capacity at Firmus data-center facilities in Southeast Asia. Firmus said the contracts provide capacity and expansion options using Nvidia’s full-stack DSX platform for Meta’s AI research, model development and training. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms.
Supply Chains and Local Opposition
Firmus operates Nvidia GB300 NVL72 systems at its Melbourne data center, described as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest deployment of Blackwell Ultra systems. The company designs, manufactures and operates AI factories for large-scale workloads and is preparing a $5 billion initial public offering to fund AI-project growth; it could become Australia’s second-largest IPO.
Samsung Electronics Executive Vice President Kim Taewoo said high-bandwidth memory is expected to take nearly 30% of DRAM chipmakers’ total wafer capacity next year, up from about 20% currently. HBM and standard DRAM compete for the same wafer capacity, he said, so higher HBM output could constrain standard DRAM supply. HBM is a key component for AI computing, and South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, along with U.S.-based Micron Technology, dominate the market.
Nikkei Asia reported that investment had left AI infrastructure providers’ order books bursting and production at maximum capacity, despite calls to slow AI development. The report opened at a Silicon Valley gathering of thousands of suppliers, three days after Anthropic chief Dario Amodei triggered debate that month about slowing frontier AI development and AI-related stocks fell.
Communities are pushing back against rapid data-center expansion, too. Nikkei Asia’s Tech Latest host Chris Nuttall spoke with Tokyo tech correspondent Tsubasa Suruga about local concerns over power, water and transparency, and how governments and developers are responding.