Digital Realty’s Strategy for Malaysia’s Data Centre Market

Digital Realty is set to enter the Malaysian data centre market through the acquisition of CSF Advisers, owner of the TelcoHub 1 facility in Cyberjaya. 

The move extends Digital Realty’s Southeast Asia footprint beyond Singapore and Jakarta, and strengthens its position in one of the region’s fastest-growing digital infrastructure markets.

Located in Greater Kuala Lumpur’s established data centre corridor, TelcoHub 1 is an operational 1.5MW facility recognised as one of Malaysia’s largest dark fibre interconnection hubs. The site hosts more than 6,000 fibre cores and over 40 network service providers, making it one of the most network-dense data centres in the country.

Alongside the existing facility, Digital Realty has also agreed to acquire adjacent land capable of supporting up to 14MW of additional IT load. This provides a defined pathway for campus expansion as demand for colocation, interconnection and cloud-adjacent capacity grows.

A highly-connected foundation in Cyberjaya

TelcoHub 1 plays a critical role in Malaysia’s digital ecosystem due to its connectivity profile. The facility provides access to regional and long-haul fibre routes and supports connectivity to major platforms including AWS, Google, MY IX and DE-CIX ASEAN.

For Digital Realty, this connectivity density aligns closely with its strategy of developing carrier-neutral interconnection hubs that support enterprise, cloud and digital service providers. The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2026, subject to customary conditions.

Once completed, the Cyberjaya campus will be integrated into PlatformDIGITAL®, Digital Realty’s global data centre platform. This will allow customers to deploy infrastructure within a consistent operational and security framework while connecting workloads across regions.

PlatformDIGITAL and ServiceFabric rollout

Digital Realty plans to introduce its ServiceFabric® interconnection and orchestration solution at the Malaysia campus.

ServiceFabric enables customers to manage connectivity across multiple sites and regions, supporting hybrid and distributed architectures as workloads scale.

The company says this approach will benefit organisations with existing footprints in Singapore by offering complementary capacity and interconnection in Malaysia, helping to balance latency, resilience and cost considerations across Southeast Asia.

This is particularly relevant as AI, cloud and data-intensive workloads drive demand for flexible regional architectures rather than single-market deployments.

Leadership view on Malaysia’s role

Serene Nah, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific at Digital Realty, describes the strategic importance of the expansion.

He says: “Malaysia plays an increasingly important role in the region’s digital ecosystem as hyperscalers, enterprises and platforms scale up, and infrastructure requirements evolve toward greater resilience, interconnection and readiness for more complex workloads.

“Our entry into Malaysia will bring our global platform, operational expertise, and long-term investment approach into the local market, support the country’s digital ambitions, and help to shape how regional infrastructure is built for the future.”

Following completion, Billy Lee, Chairman and CEO of CSF Advisers, along with the local leadership team and more than 40 staff, will join Digital Realty. The company also plans to expand the local team over time to support operational scale and future development.

Capacity growth and market outlook

Malaysia is currently in a period of sustained data centre expansion. Total installed capacity is projected to grow from 1.26GW in 2025 to 2.53GW by 2030, driven by cloud adoption, AI acceleration, improving connectivity and supportive government policy.

Billy comments: "Malaysia is currently in a sustained scale-up phase for digital infrastructure, with total data centre capacity projected to grow from 1.26GW in 2025 to 2.53GW by 2030.

“We are excited to join Digital Realty and hope this acquisition will enhance our connectivity solutions for customers, support local talent development, and contribute to Malaysia's maturing digital infrastructure ecosystem.”

Sustainability and regional strategy

Digital Realty has confirmed that sustainability will be a core focus of its Malaysian operations. 

The company plans to work with government and industry stakeholders to support energy-efficient data centre practices aligned with local regulation and national digital priorities.

The Malaysia entry builds on Digital Realty’s existing Southeast Asia presence and reflects its broader strategy of developing interconnected campuses in key regional markets, with further expansion opportunities under evaluation.