Kuala lumpur: Malaysia is carving out a premium niche in Asia's digital-infrastructure race, combining scalable power, connectivity, execution speed, industrial depth, and hyperscale capital, says an economist. Juwai IQI global chief economist Shan Saeed highlighted Malaysia's data-centre boom as a distinct economic strategy rather than just a spillover from Singapore. According to BERNAMA News Agency, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) approved RM144.4 billion in data-centre and cloud-computing investments between 2021 and mid-2025. The first quarter of 2026 alone saw RM34.6 billion in investments across 33 projects, making up 88.9 percent of information-and-communications investment approvals. Shan Saeed emphasized the importance of converting infrastructure investments into domestic value-added and productivity growth. He noted that while data centres are capital- and power-intensive, their economic benefits rely on the spillovers they create, such as lower barriers to cloud and AI ado ption, improved cybersecurity and engineering capabilities, and increased renewable-energy investment and local procurement. Malaysia's semiconductor ecosystem is seen as an advantage, potentially creating a bridge between its established electronics manufacturing base and the emerging AI economy. With Southeast Asia accounting for roughly half of Asia-Pacific's data-centre capacity under construction, Malaysia leads the region with 1,039 megawatts (MW) under construction, surpassing Thailand's 859 MW. Particular focus is on Johor, which recorded 1,110 MW of operational capacity, 602 MW under construction, and a 3,088 MW development pipeline in early 2026. This pipeline surpasses those of Bangkok and Jakarta, highlighting Johor's pivotal role in Malaysia's digital infrastructure expansion. Shan pointed out the necessity of ensuring that digital infrastructure encourages productive investment rather than hindering it. He emphasized that achieving this balance could extend benefits beyond server farms, enhan cing Malaysia's productive capital stock, technology diffusion, and overall growth rate. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global greenfield investment in data centres exceeded US$270 billion in 2025, with Malaysia ranked among the top 10 global destinations for data-centre projects. Furthermore, McKinsey and Co. estimated that data centres might require approximately US$6.7 trillion in cumulative global investment by 2030, with AI workloads accounting for around 70 percent of capacity demand by the end of the decade.