Google will spend $15 billion on new data centers in Malaysia

The short version

• Google will invest $15 billion in Malaysia in 2027 and 2028, mostly in new data center campuses.
• It says it will pay for all the power its campuses use and add more than 1 gigawatt of clean energy to Malaysia's grid.
• The plan also includes skills training for about 800,000 Malaysians by 2031.

What Google announced

Google announced the plan on 4 November, with Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim present. It builds on the investment Google announced in 2024.

Google's first Malaysian data center campus, at Elmina Business Park in Selangor, is now running. Google says that site already has a full local team. New campuses are planned in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. The Selangor sites will also support a Google Cloud region in Malaysia. That is a local hub where businesses rent Google's computing power.

Google lists Malaysian organizations already using its cloud. They include AirAsia, Hong Leong Bank and Maxis.

Google also announced four new training programs. They reach groups from teachers and civil servants to small business owners. One will set up data center training schools at polytechnics in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan from 2027.

The terms Google is offering

The most interesting part is how Google is handling power and water. Data centers use a lot of both, and local resistance is growing in many countries.

On power, Google says it will pay for 100% of the electricity its campuses use. It will also pay the direct cost of connecting them to the grid. It plans to bring more than 1 gigawatt of new clean energy to Malaysia's National Grid, working with the national power company. From 2027, it also plans programs to lower household power bills in the states that host its sites.

On water, Google says it checked local supplies before choosing water cooling. It is building a reservoir and water treatment plant in Negeri Sembilan. It also announced new river clean-up and school rainwater projects.

Google also says its campuses run far more efficiently than the industry average in a tropical climate. That means less power lost to cooling.

The jobs claim

Google expects construction to add about $1.1 billion a year to Malaysia's economy. It says that phase will support more than 37,000 local jobs a year. Once running, the sites should sustain more than 9,000 jobs, with wages averaging 45% above the national median. More than 80 Malaysian firms already supply the project.

These are Google's own projections.

What it means for companies in Indonesia

Malaysia just moved further ahead in Southeast Asia's data center build-out. For you, more capacity nearby can mean more choice for running AI work. That is useful for data that is allowed to leave the country.

Rules on where data must stay differ by sector in Indonesia. Check them before moving any work abroad.

The deal also sets a reference point for Indonesia. Google has publicly committed to pay its own power costs and add clean energy. It has also promised to fund water projects. Indonesian regions bidding for data centers can now point to those terms.

What to do next

• List which of your AI and data work could legally run outside Indonesia, and which must stay.
• Ask your cloud providers where their nearest AI computing capacity sits today, and what it costs.
• Watch for the opening date of Google's Malaysia cloud region.
• Track what Google pays for power and water in Malaysia. It may shape what other countries ask of data center builders.
• Bring Malaysia's power and water terms to any talks with data center builders in your region.