KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Power International Bhd, the country's first independent power producer, has partnered with GDS Holdings Ltd to co-develop 168 megawatts (MW) of data centre capacity at the upcoming YTL Green Data Centre Park in Johor.
YTL Power's Singapore-based subsidiary YTL Data Center Holdings Pte Ltd is building the 500 MW solar-powered data centre park in Johor's Iskandar region, which will include over 535,000 square feet of purpose-built data centre space.
GDS operates high-performance data centres in China.
Both parties signed an agreement yesterday to collaborate on the development of 168MW of data centre capacity across eight individual data centre facilities at the data centre park.
The first phase of the co-development will go into service in 2024, according to a statement from YTL Power.
Separate from the co-development with GDS, the construction of 72MW of capacity for other hyperscale customers have already begun on site.
The YTL Green Data Centre Park, with 275 acres dedicated to data centre development, is expected to meet the region's growing demand for sustainable and cost-effective data centre solutions.
According to Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong, managing director of YTL Power, GDS' presence at the park would complement its previously-announced hyperscale data centre projects at Nusajaya Tech Park in Johor and Nongsa Digital Park in Batam, Indonesia.
"We are excited to partner with GDS, one of the largest data centre companies in the world, to anchor our world-class green data center campus in Johor.
"Our shared vision for a truly integrated, sustainable energy-powered facility with dedicated dark fibre capacity is an exciting one and will position it as the place to be for hyperscalers and co-location customers alike," Yeoh said.
William Huang, chairman and chief executive officer of GDS, said YTL had a proven track record of infrastructure development spanning more than 60 years.
"This project is truly visionary, combining hyperscale data centre capacity, powered by on-site renewable energy, within touching distance of the major regional hubs," he said.
Huang said GDS had now launched three projects in Southeast Asia that, when combined, created a one-of-a-kind platform for hyperscale customers to deploy with low latency connectivity, multi-site redundancy and access to renewable energy.