Navigating SE Asia's Data Center Market: What It Takes To Win

The data center growth in Asia and particularly in SE Asia has attracted substantial investments and has a diverse set of players going after the market. However, there also deep complexities and challenges with the planning, build and monetization aspects. So, what does it take to win here? Darryll Sinnappa (Malaysia Country Leader for STT Global Data Centers) and I deliberated over the issues during a recent conversation and we captured the points in this article.

The global data center industry is projected to grow at 8% CAGR by 2027, with APAC growing the fastest at 12% (figure 1). Populations across Asia are becoming more connected through broadband, both mobile and fixed, with the region's vast demographics driving the quantum of data consumption. Corporates in the region have started to pursue digital transformation at scale, even though many still lag their North American counterparts in AI adoption.