Johor built the overflow.
Now the constraint has flipped.

Singapore froze new supply. The demand crossed the strait to cheaper land and available power, and Johor’s pipeline nearly doubled to 5.8 GW. The binding constraint is no longer land. It is speed-to-power, against a permitting window that has begun to close.

Johor pipeline · Q2 2025 5.8GW
Operational target · end-2026 1,000MW
Financed to completion 45–55%
Binding constraint Speed-to-power
& permitting
Analyst overview

What the Johor picture actually shows.

The overflow thesis worked. The constraint just moved.

Johor is the clearest worked example of the cross-border template that recurs across this report. Singapore imposed a data-centre moratorium in 2019, citing roughly 7% of national electricity going to the sector; when it reopened in 2022 under strict sustainability conditions, Johor had already captured the spill-over. Land around 60% cheaper, tariffs 30–40% lower, and a willing state utility in Tenaga Nasional Berhad turned the southern Malaysian state into Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing hub. The aggregate pipeline reached about 5.8 GW by mid-2025, a near-doubling in twelve months, and the market is on track to cross 1 GW operational by the end of 2026.

The numbers that move are now on the supply side, not the demand side. As of late 2025 Johor had 422 MW under construction (up 87% in six months) and 1,324 MW planned (up 61%), against a vacancy rate of 1.1%, among the lowest in the region. YTL’s 600 MW NVIDIA GB200 campus in Kulai went live framed explicitly as sovereign-AI infrastructure for Malaysia’s domestic model, ILMU. DayOne already runs 478 MW and closed a USD 2.0 billion Series C in January 2026.

The thesis for this chapter: Johor’s binding constraint has flipped from land to credible speed-to-power, and the permitting window is narrowing. The state rejected up to 30% of new applications in 2025 on sustainability grounds. On Entelligencia’s modelling only 45 to 55 per cent of announced 2030 capacity is financed to completion, and contracted maximum-demand figures run well ahead of actual consumption. The dashboard below tracks both sides of that gap, live, with every figure tagged for what it is.

Entelligencia desk · Southeast Asia · chapter 02 of 10
At a glance · the index

Johor’s preconditions, scored.

Each spoke is one precondition, scored 0 to 10 for like-for-like reading – indicative editorial weighting, not a published index. Select any spoke or row to read the factor.

The live dashboard

Johor, on the instruments.

A working file in five entries. Each opens into its own facts, interactive charts and comparisons.

Johor monitor · live file as of May 2026ENT-MY-DASH-2026.05
The story

One founder, one
corridor.

How Robin Khuda took AirTrunk from a near-bankruptcy to the largest data-centre deal ever struck, and why the company bet on Johor. Seven chapters, eleven scenes. Scroll to begin, and open the markers as you go.

Seven chapters · scroll and click to explore
01/ 11
The latency case
Sub-5ms to Singapore
Johor clears sub-5ms round-trip to Singapore’s exchanges, close enough to act as live capacity for the Singapore market rather than a remote region.
<5msJohor to Singapore exchanges
The energy case
TNB Green Lane
A dedicated grid pathway for large loads, paired with Malaysia’s first data-centre VPPA: a 30MW solar deal with ib vogt, February 2024.
30MWFirst Malaysian DC VPPA
LP
Lim Pei Jet
Head of Malaysia · AirTrunk
Leads AirTrunk’s Malaysia business, the executive accountable for delivering the Johor campuses on the ground.
AirTrunk
LC
YB Tuan Liew Chin Tong
Deputy Minister · MITI, Malaysia
Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, the federal voice on the investment the corridor is pulling in.
Government · Federal
RK
Robin Khuda
Founder & CEO · AirTrunk
Founder of AirTrunk and the architect of the Johor bet, opening JHB1 as the first of four campuses.
AirTrunk · Founder
LT
YB Tuan Lee Ting Han
Chairman · Johor Investment Committee
Chairs the Johor State Investment, Trade and Consumer Affairs Committee, the state-level gatekeeper deciding which projects clear.
Government · Johor State
DH
H.E. Danielle Heinecke
Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia
Australia’s High Commissioner, marking the bilateral dimension of an Australian-founded operator anchoring in Johor.
Diplomatic · Australia
MB
Mark Barnaba
Chairman · AirTrunk
Chairman of AirTrunk, representing the board and the Blackstone and CPP ownership behind the build.
AirTrunk · Board
Campus 01 · efficiency
PUE 1.15
AirTrunk states a design PUE of 1.15 for the liquid-cooled load at JHB1, with liquid cooling reducing energy use by around 23% versus traditional methods: a leading figure for a tropical-climate facility.
1.15Design PUE · liquid-cooled load
Technology · cooling
Direct-to-chip liquid cooling
AirTrunk describes JHB1 as carrying an industry-first, large-scale liquid-cooling deployment, with 20MW+ of liquid cooling in-flight, delivered through its own Cooling Distribution Unit (CDU) design to support high-density AI racks.
20MW+Liquid cooling in-flight · CDU
Partner · power
ib vogt · 30MW solar VPPA
AirTrunk signed Malaysia’s first data-centre VPPA, a 30MW solar deal with developer ib vogt (February 2024), the renewable-supply anchor behind its commitment to match 100% of its data-centre electricity with renewables.
30MWFirst Malaysian DC VPPA · ib vogt
Commitment · sustainability
Net Zero by 2030
AirTrunk has set a public target of Net Zero by 2030 and structured its financing around a Sustainability-Linked Loan framework, tying borrowing terms to energy, water and emissions performance.
2030Net Zero target · SLL framework
Campus 02 · contracted
JHB2, Feb 2025
More than 270MW announced, reported near 100% contracted before completion.
270+MWNear 100% contracted
Campus 03 + 04
JHB3 and JHB4, Apr 2026
A further USD 3 billion, 280+MW combined, cooled with 100% recycled water. Total Malaysian commitment reaches USD 6.8 billion across 700+MW.
USD 6.8BTotal · 700+MW
Controversy · water
Why water, not power, may bind first
A large evaporative-cooled AI campus can draw millions of litres a day, and Johor already manages periodic treated-water stress, with tankering used in affected areas. The deferral is a demand-management lever: it caps new cooling load while supply catches up. It also reprices the corridor: closed-loop and recycled-water designs, like the 100% recycled-water cooling promised at JHB3 and JHB4, move from nice-to-have to a permitting advantage.
100%Recycled-water cooling · JHB3/JHB4 answer
mid-2027Cooling expansion deferral
Controversy · consent
When the social licence appears
The Gelang Patah protest was small and aimed at one operator, Zdata, not AirTrunk, but it marked the first time Johor residents organised against a data centre at all. The signal matters more than the scale: consent is no longer assumed. Water visibility, local jobs and land use now sit alongside power and latency as things a campus has to answer for before it is welcome.
Feb 2026First organised opposition · sector-wide signal
Feb 2026Gelang Patah · sector-wide
Controversy · grid
The grid version of paper vs live
Operators reserve grid capacity they do not yet draw: declared demand ran near double actual load, the same gap between announced and realised that shapes the whole pipeline. Empty reservations let one developer block megawatts a financed project could use. The 85% utilisation rule forces booking discipline, turning the grid queue from a land-grab into a use-it-or-lose-it line, and it is a quieter constraint than the rejection rate but a more structural one.
47% → 85%Declared-draw floor now enforced
47% → 85%Declared-demand rule
Dhaka to Sydney · origin
Chapter 01 / 07 · Origin story

From Dhaka to a Sydney loading dock.

Robin Khuda was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and moved to Sydney at eighteen in 1997. He worked multiple jobs to fund an accounting degree at UTS, then an MBA at Manchester Business School.

At Christmas 2016, AirTrunk was close to bankruptcy. Goldman Sachs and TPG Sixth Street stepped in, and the company survived.

1997Arrived in Sydney, aged 18
2016Near-bankruptcy, then rescued
Chapter 02 / 07 · The man behind the machines

Fujitsu, PIPE, NextDC, AirTrunk.

The career runs from Fujitsu to PIPE Networks to NextDC, then to founding AirTrunk in 2015. In February 2025 he made a record AU$100M gift to the University of Sydney, the largest single philanthropic donation in NSW history, funding twenty years of women’s STEM scholarships.

1997Arrives Sydney2002PIPE Networks2010NextDC2015Founds AirTrunk2016Near-bankruptcy2024A$24bn sale2025AU$100M gift
Chapter 03 / 07 · Why Malaysia, why Johor

The overflow had to land somewhere.

Singapore’s moratorium froze new supply. Johor offered sub-5ms latency to Singapore’s exchanges, the TNB Green Lane energy pathway, and large land parcels.

The JS-SEZ bilateral framework, signed January 2025, added a 5% corporate tax rate for up to fifteen years.

Open the markers on the map
Chapter 04 / 07 · i · The first campus

JHB1 goes live.

JHB1 opened in July 2024 with 50MW live at launch: AirTrunk’s first campus in Malaysia and the anchor of the Johor build.

Jul 2024JHB1 opened
50MWLive at launch
Chapter 04 / 07 · ii · An efficiency record

Liquid cooling, in the tropics.

Direct-to-chip liquid cooling cut energy use by 23% and delivered a design PUE of 1.15: a world-beating figure for a facility in a hot, humid climate, and the technical proof point for the whole corridor.

Open the efficiency marker
Chapter 04 / 07 · iii · Three more campuses

JHB2 to JHB4.

JHB2 followed in February 2025 with 270+MW, near fully contracted. JHB3 and JHB4, announced April 2026, add USD 3 billion and 280+MW more.

Together the four campuses bring the total Malaysian commitment to USD 6.8 billion across more than 700MW.

USD 6.8BTotal commitment
700+MWAcross four campuses
Open each campus on the map
Chapter 05 / 07 · The A$24 billion moment

The largest data-centre deal ever.

In September 2024 Blackstone and CPP Investments agreed to acquire AirTrunk for A$24 billion: the largest data-centre deal globally, the largest M&A in Australian history, and Blackstone’s biggest-ever Asia Pacific investment.

It closed in December 2024. Khuda reinvested and stayed on as CEO.

A$24BLargest DC deal ever
Dec 2024Closed · Khuda stayed CEO
Chapter 06 / 07 · i · The backlash · water

Growth ahead of the water table.

In November 2025 Johor told data centres to defer cooling expansions until mid-2027, and halted Tier 1 and Tier 2 approvals. The build had moved faster than the water could.

Open the water marker
Chapter 06 / 07 · ii · The backlash · consent

The first protest.

February 2026 brought Malaysia’s first-ever data-centre protest, in Gelang Patah. It targeted Zdata rather than AirTrunk, but the scrutiny landed on the whole sector.

Open the protest marker
Chapter 06 / 07 · iii · The backlash · the grid

Phantom power, and a tighter filter.

Malaysian data centres were drawing only 47% of their declared grid demand. New rules now enforce 85% utilisation, and Johor rejects roughly 30% of applications.

AirTrunk was rarely the named target, but the approval bar rose for everyone.

Open the grid marker
Chapter 07 / 07 · What comes next.

Beyond JHB4.

Expansion signals point past JHB4. AirTrunk has entered India through the Lumina CloudInfra acquisition, with a USD 5 billion-plus pipeline, on a 3.3GW, 22-campus APJ platform.

Middle East infrastructure disruption is adding geopolitical tailwinds to the JS-SEZ corridor.

3.3GW22-campus APJ platform
USD 5B+India pipeline · Lumina
The build ledger

The named Johor builds, tagged by what’s delivered.

Johor build ledger · live
ENT-MY-LEDGER-2026.05 · 7 of 119 shown
Verified

Operational or in build, confirmed. Energised load or construction cross-referenced against operator disclosures and TNB power allocations.

Announced

Stated, not yet delivered. Approval, land or a target date is public, but no metered operational capacity is confirmed.

Contested

Scale or financing in question. The announced figure is unusually large, conditional, or unfinanced on current evidence.

Status
All Verified Announced Contested
Area
All Iskandar Puteri Kulai / Sedenak Nusajaya
7 projects shown
Project Location Announced Verified live or in build Status Binding constraint
YTL Green DC Park
YTL Power International
Kulai (Sedenak)
Johor
600MW
100+MW
 Verified
Power ramp · self-build
What we read

First GB200 phase reported operational in 2025; 600 MW campus framed as Malaysia’s sovereign-AI facility, hosting the domestic LLM ILMU. YTL is building its own generation alongside.

What would change the tag

Slippage on the announced ramp beyond the live phase would move the unbuilt majority to Announced. Verified figure here covers only the energised phase.

Sources

YTL / YTL Power disclosures · NVIDIA partnership announcement · trade press, 2024–25.
DayOne Malaysia campuses
DayOne Data Centers (ex-GDS Int’l)
Johor
Multi-site
478MW
478MW
 Verified
Financing secured
What we read

478 MW reported operational in Malaysia. DayOne closed a USD 2.0 billion Series C in January 2026, led by Coatue with Indonesia’s INA co-investing, one of the sector’s largest private raises.

What would change the tag

A restatement of operational vs. contracted capacity, or a financing pull-back, would change the tag. Currently the most clearly financed line in the table.

Sources

DayOne Series C announcement (Jan 2026) · operator disclosures · trade press.
Empyrion MY1
Empyrion Digital
Nusajaya
Iskandar Puteri
200+MW
0MW
 Announced
Speed-to-power
What we read

Regulatory approval secured for a 200+ MW campus with a 145 MW power allocation from TNB. Earliest energisation stated as September 2026, not yet built.

What would change the tag

First energised, metered load moves the live portion to Verified. A TNB allocation revision or schedule slip keeps it Announced.

Sources

Empyrion Digital announcement · TNB allocation reporting, 2025–26.
Stack Iskandar campus
Stack Infrastructure
Iskandar Puteri
Johor
220MW
0MW
 Announced
Power & schedule
What we read

220 MW campus announced, with a first phase targeted for Q4 2026. No operational capacity reported yet.

What would change the tag

Verified on first-phase energisation and tenant load. Stays Announced until then.

Sources

Operator announcement · Cushman & Wakefield market notes, 2025.
STT GDC Nusa Cemerlang
STT GDC
Nusa Cemerlang Ind. Park
Johor
PhaseMW
16MW
 Announced
Phased build
What we read

Hyperscale campus with Phase 1 (16 MW) targeted by end-2026. Total campus scale not fully disclosed.

What would change the tag

Each phase verified on energisation. Headline campus total remains Announced pending disclosure.

Sources

STT GDC announcement · market trackers, 2025.
NTT Data Johor campus
NTT Data
Johor
Six-building
MultiMW
0MW
 Announced
Schedule
What we read

Land acquired August 2024 for USD 88.5 million; six-building campus with the first building targeted for 2027.

What would change the tag

First building operational moves that phase to Verified. Land + plan alone is Announced.

Sources

NTT Data land acquisition filing (Aug 2024) · trade press.
CURRENC green AI campus + township
CURRENC Group / CURR-ARC AI Fund
Johor
100-acre
500MW
0MW
 Contested
Financing & scale
What we read

Announced as a 100-acre, 500 MW green AI campus with an adjoining 10,000-person AI research township. The compute-plus-township scale is unusually large for a single private vehicle.

What would change the tag

A first financed, permitted phase with metered load would move it toward Announced/Verified. Until capital and offtake close, the headline scale is treated as contested.

Sources

CURRENC / CURR-ARC announcement, 2025 · Entelligencia review.
Partner case study
Tenaga Nasional
The Green Lane that made Johor financeable
Tenaga Nasional’s dedicated grid pathway for large loads, behind Malaysia’s first data-centre VPPA (30 MW solar, ib vogt, Feb 2024)
30 MW
First Malaysian DC VPPA
Green Lane
Speed-to-power pathway
Read the case →
The file

Five findings behind the flip.

Findings dossier · MYS
Compiled May 2026
Verified Announced Contested Select any finding to open the evidence
The people

Who actually decides Johor’s data-centre buildout.

Hover ↻
Tan Sri Francis Yeoh
Exec. Chairman · YTL Corporation
Profile · 01 of 05
Tan Sri Francis Yeoh
Executive Chairman · YTL Corporation / YTL Power
Influence
YTL’s 600 MW NVIDIA GB200 campus at Kulai (Sedenak) is framed as Malaysia’s sovereign-AI facility and hosts the domestic LLM, ILMU. YTL is building its own generation alongside the load.
Working on
Sovereign-AI infrastructure, self-generated power, and scaling the Green Data Centre Park into the country’s anchor AI site.
On the record
Has publicly framed YTL’s AI data-centre build as nation-building infrastructure for Malaysia rather than a pure colocation play. Paraphrase · YTL / NVIDIA partnership announcements, 2024–25
Hover ↻
Anwar Ibrahim
Prime Minister & Finance Minister
Profile · 02 of 05
Anwar Ibrahim
Prime Minister & Minister of Finance, Malaysia
Influence
Holds the finance portfolio alongside the premiership, putting the national budget, tax policy and the JS-SEZ incentive framework under one office. Malaysia logged a record RM426.7 billion in approved investment in 2025.
Working on
Steering the JS-SEZ corridor and its 5% concessionary tax for qualifying investors, while balancing AI-infrastructure capital against power, water and sustainability limits.
On the record
Has positioned Malaysia as a high-quality, sustainable destination for digital investment rather than volume at any cost. Paraphrase · Prime Minister’s Office / MOF statements, 2025
Amir Hamzah Azizan
Second Finance Minister · supporting
Hover ↻
Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi
Menteri Besar · Johor
Profile · 03 of 05
Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi
Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Johor
Influence
Holds state-level authority over land and the Johor data-centre corridor, and is a co-architect of the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone that frames the cross-strait investment story.
Working on
Balancing the investment surge against state-level water, power and land-use limits as Johor absorbs Singapore’s overflow demand.
On the record
Has publicly stressed that data-centre growth must be managed within Johor’s available water and power capacity. Paraphrase · Johor State / JSSEZ communications, 2024–25
Hover ↻
William Huang
Founder & Chairman · GDS / DayOne
Profile · 04 of 05
William Huang
Founder & Chairman · GDS Holdings / DayOne
Influence
DayOne, the international arm spun out of GDS, reports 478 MW operational in Malaysia and closed a USD 2.0 billion Series C in January 2026 led by Coatue, with Indonesia’s INA co-investing: one of the sector’s largest private raises.
Working on
Scaling Johor hyperscale capacity and converting the Series C into delivered, financed megawatts.
On the record
Has publicly positioned Southeast Asia, and Johor specifically, as the growth core of DayOne’s international expansion. Paraphrase · GDS / DayOne disclosures; Series C announcement, Jan 2026
Hover ↻
Robin Khuda
Founder & CEO · AirTrunk
Profile · 05 of 05
Robin Khuda
Founder & CEO · AirTrunk
Influence
Founded AirTrunk in 2015 and built it into the platform behind the largest data-centre deal ever: a A$24 billion sale to Blackstone and CPP in 2024. AirTrunk anchors Johor with four campuses, a USD 6.8 billion commitment across 700+ MW.
Working on
Scaling the 3.3 GW, 22-campus APJ platform past JHB4, and an India entry via the Lumina CloudInfra acquisition with a USD 5 billion-plus pipeline.
On the record
Reinvested and stayed as CEO after the Blackstone deal closed. In Feb 2025 gave AU$100M to the University of Sydney, the largest single gift in NSW history. Paraphrase · AirTrunk / Blackstone disclosures; University of Sydney announcement, Feb 2025
The supply chain

From capital to compute · who’s active in Johor

Johor supply chain · live
Hover any node · Click for detail
Capital
GIC
KKR
Brookfield
DigitalBridge
INA
Suppliers & power
NVIDIA
Schneider Electric
Vertiv
ABB
Cummins
Operators
Equinix
Hyperscalers
Microsoft
AWS
Google
Oracle
Meta
Demand
Sovereign & AI
OpenAI
Anthropic
Mistral
Flow

Capital flows left to right, from investors through suppliers, the grid operator and Johor operators to the hyperscalers, demand and the sovereign-AI layer that consume the stack. Drawn links are indicative of capital-to-compute structure; only a subset reflect publicly reported relationships, shown at full weight. Hover any node to trace its position. Click for the company brief.

06 tiers · 31 entities
Voices of the industry

[Placeholder] What the people building it say.

Three industry voices on the supply chain, each opening a pop-out that can carry a voice clip, an interview, an opinion with exhibits, or a simple quote. Placeholder cards for now; real names, photos and content to follow.

Voice clip
[Name to come]
[Role] · [Organisation]

[Placeholder] A short standfirst on what this voice adds to the supply-chain picture.

Listen
Interview
[Name to come]
[Role] · [Organisation]

[Placeholder] A short standfirst on what this voice adds to the supply-chain picture.

Read
Opinion
[Name to come]
[Role] · [Organisation]

[Placeholder] A short standfirst on what this voice adds to the supply-chain picture.

Open

Placeholder module · voices, photos and content to be added chapter by chapter.