AirTrunk, an Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) hyperscale data centre operator, entered Malaysia with plans to build a 150+ Megawatt (MW) data centre in Johor Bahru at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, opposite Singapore. The facility will be the company's first in Malaysia, taking its DC platform to over 1.35 gigawatts (GW) capacity.
DC Facility Location
Named AirTrunk JHB1 (JHB1), the DC campus will be located on 10.3 hectares of land in Johor Bahru, which is at the southernmost point of the Malay Peninsula and is connected to Singapore by a kilometer-long causeway that covers the Straits of Johor. With an end-to-end cross-border strategy, this facility will offer strong domestic and international connectivity to regional technology hubs, including Singapore.
Driven by rapidly increasing cloud adoption in Southeast Asia, JHB1 will be anchored by one of the world's largest technology companies.
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AirTrunk Founder & Chief Executive Officer, 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."
The JHB1 will include several sustainable innovations to ensure AirTrunk continues to deliver the most sustainable data centers in the region and will be funded by Airtrunk via its sustainability-linked loan framework.
Reduce energy consumption
Sustainable innovations include a landmark cooling solution that combines indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) and direct-to-chip liquid cooling technology. According to the company, liquid cooling technology will allow AirTrunk users to deploy high-density racks, cutting energy use by up to 20%.
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Sustainable energy source
The data center will have what it calls "a solar-ready roof, equipped to add 5 MW of solar panels." Power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.15 is the goal for AirTrunk, and the company says it will offer clients a choice of renewable energy sources.
AirTrunk Chief Technology Officer, Damien Spillane 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."
Construction of JHB1's initial phases, which will provide a 50 MW capacity, will start soon and will be completed in 2024. According to AirTrunk, the data center is prepared to scale up to a total capacity of more than 150 MW and expand further depending on customer needs.
