Google to Build Two Additional Data Centre Campuses in Selangor, Forming Strategic Triangle

Google is expanding its digital infrastructure footprint in Malaysia with plans to develop two additional data centre campuses in Selangor, a move aimed at meeting surging demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services across the country and the broader Asia-Pacific region. The proposed developments will complement the company's existing facility at Elmina Business Park in Sungai Buloh, with all three locations forming what Google describes as a "strategic triangle" designed to ensure service continuity for Malaysian users and organisations.

Ken Siah, principal of global infrastructure at Google Asia Pacific, said the two new campuses are still in the planning stage, with locations targeted at the Eco Business Park in Puncak Alam, Kuala Selangor, and the UMV High Value Manufacturing Park in Serendah, Hulu Selangor. The arrangement will allow services to be transferred to either of the other two campuses if one location experiences temporary disruption, he said during a media site visit at Google's campus in Elmina Business Park. "When you think of all these campuses, and eventually when they all come online, what they do is they form a strategic triangle," Siah said. "It means that if for any reason one of these sites is temporarily out of service, we are able to move all the services to one of the other two sites to make sure that they continue to run for Malaysians and Malaysian organisations as well."

Google's decision to invest in Malaysia was made around 2022 and 2023, before the current AI boom, driven by growing demand for its digital services including Google Search, Maps, and Chrome, as well as the increasing adoption of machine learning among businesses and organisations. The company announced its Malaysian data centre plans in May 2024 before commencing construction in October that year, after assessing several potential locations including Johor and Cyberjaya. Selangor was ultimately selected because it offered a relatively greenfield environment with fewer existing data centre developments at the time, while allowing Google to consider the impact of its operations on the local electricity grid. "When we do a lot of these pre-assessments, what we call our site selection process, we always look at the impact we would have if we plug a data centre into the local grid," Siah said.

Establishing data centre infrastructure within Malaysia was important to meet data residency requirements, particularly for regulated industries such as banking and the public sector, where certain data must remain within the country's geographical borders. Local infrastructure will also provide ultra-low latency for emerging technologies including smart factories, intelligent traffic systems, and robotics, while enabling locally developed AI applications to scale from small pilot projects to serve millions of users. On Google's choice of Elmina Business Park for its first location, Siah noted that the site's dedicated industrial zoning, distance from residential areas, and existing sustainable infrastructure — including solar panels and rainwater harvesting facilities — align with the company's operational requirements. The investment is also expected to create opportunities for Malaysian suppliers and service providers across construction, logistics, security, waste management, and other long-term operational services. "We are not building in Malaysia because we cannot build in other countries. We are building because we are seeing huge demand in Malaysia and in the Asia-Pacific," Siah said.