Malaysia plans data centre bill as approved projects reach RM225.97 billion

Malaysia is preparing a Digital Infrastructure (Data Centre) Bill to regulate the sector, and developers are expected to face tougher checks on how much capacity they reserve and a bigger share of utility costs. The bill is due to go to Cabinet in 2027, and the National Economic Action Council, which the prime minister heads, has already endorsed it. W.Media, which reported the story on 21 October 2026, expects Parliament to pass it, likely by 2027, and regards that outcome as practically certain.

According to W.Media, Singapore passed its Digital Infrastructure Act two weeks earlier, while a comparable Thai law is still under consideration after being introduced in Parliament.

The size of the pipeline explains the urgency. By July, the Data Centre Task Force had cleared 27 projects with estimated investment of RM225.97 billion. Johor has 16 of them, Selangor 10 and Negeri Sembilan one, and every project except one is under construction.

Power is the main pressure point. In August, the 45 operating facilities were drawing about 1.37GW, against a combined maximum load of 6GW. Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Johari Abdul Ghani told Parliament developers should pay for the transmission upgrades their projects require. He also proposed that operators be billed for committed electricity capacity they leave unused. W.Media pointed to a tension, since developers need headroom to grow while utilities cannot freely reassign capacity that is already reserved.

Separately, Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof proposed user-pays electricity pricing and higher Connected Load Charges to deter excessive reservations. He also referred to work on guidelines for independent generation, and self-generation is strongly encouraged. Fadillah said approved electricity supply capacity stood at 12.3GW in August, compared with projected maximum sector demand of 8.39GW by 2030. W.Media cautioned that neither number describes operating IT capacity now.

Water and local content are also in scope. Approved water demand across Johor, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan is about 445.04 million litres a day over 2025 to 2030, and operators must now account for their own use. Task force approvals carry a minimum 30 per cent local content requirement, tracked through six-monthly implementation reports. The 27 projects are expected to create 4,053 jobs, 3,523 of them highly skilled, with Malaysians projected to fill 89.21 per cent.