Microsoft announced plans to expand its cloud infrastructure with a new ‘cloud region’ in Johor Bahru – Johor’s capital city at the southern point of Malaysia – known as Southeast Asia 3, to meet growing demand for cloud services and drive AI transformation across Southeast Asia.
Microsoft ‘Southeast Asia 3’ Datacenter Debuts
When operational, the Johor Bahru region will “deliver Microsoft’s most comprehensive and strategic cloud services, designed to support advanced workloads and evolving customer needs from across the region.” It follows the earlier launch of the Malaysia West cloud region in Greater Kuala Lumpur, which enables local organizations to accelerate their AI adoption. To date, the Microsoft Azure’s network consists of over 70 global regions currently operational today.
Microsoft is also prioritizing responsible development and sustainability. Under its Datacenter Community Pledge, initiatives in Johor Bahru include the Skills2Work Datacenter Foundations Program with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to train 150 graduates annually, collaborations with UNDP Malaysia and BPEN Johor to support social enterprises reaching 10,000 people, and environmental measures such as renewable biofuel generators and closed-loop water-efficient cooling for the datacenter, along with rainwater harvesting in 42 schools, and a mangrove restoration project with WWF Malaysia.
The new region supports Malaysia’s AI ambitions alongside programs like AI for Malaysia’s Future (AIForMYFuture), which has already trained over 734,000 Malaysians toward a goal of 800,000 by the end of 2025. Earlier this year, Microsoft also debuted ‘BINA AI Malaysia’ initiative which included National AI Innovation Center (NAIC) established with EY, the National AI Office (NAIO), and the PETRONAS Leadership Centre. Among the initiatives include an AI-powered financial literacy platform, built by Microsoft and EY, for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to improve financial literacy among its 16 million members.
Pokdepinion: With how resource-intensive datacenters get these days, minimizing environmental impact is especially important.
