Google plans $15B Malaysia data center build in 2027-2028

Google will spend $15 billion in Malaysia between 2027 and 2028 on new data center campuses, clean energy and workforce training, according to Nikkei Asia. The new campuses sit in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, on top of the Elmina Business Park facility in Selangor that is already operational.

Ruth Porat, Alphabet and Google's president and chief investment officer, framed it in the company's language. "This investment aligns with Malaysia's development priorities, providing the foundational computing capacity to deliver the upside of innovation across the country while adding local power and water resources as our operations scale," she said.

The infrastructure terms are specific. Google says it will cover 100% of its data center power costs and the direct grid-connection infrastructure, and target a power usage effectiveness of 1.12 to 1.14. It also plans to add more than 1 gigawatt of clean energy capacity to Malaysia's national grid.

The economic numbers, as Google reports them: an annual average of $1.1 billion contribution to Malaysia's GDP during construction, more than 37,000 local construction jobs per year, and more than 9,000 operational jobs with wages 45% above the national median. Four new upskilling programs will target 800,000 Malaysians over five years.

The announcement lands in the middle of a visibly contested week for data centers in our AI infrastructure tracker, including fresh voter pushback across US jurisdictions this Tuesday. Malaysia is pulling the other way.