Asia Pacific Data Centre Investment Landscape

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ASIA PACIFIC DATA CENTRE INVESTMENT LANDSCAPE

Population per colo Megawatt Market selection for data centre development is influenced by a range of factors, including cloud adoption, digital transformation, commercial activity, economic maturity, and the availability of physical infrastructure. Among these, population per MW serves as a useful proxy for identifying relative growth opportunities across markets. Despite being the most populous region globally, Asia Pacific remains significantly underserved in terms of data centre capacity when compared to the U.S.. The U.S. not only leads in operational capacity but also surpasses Asia Pacific in both under construction and planned capacities. This disparity underscores the substantial investment and development potential within the region. Currently, seven out of fourteen Asia Pacific markets serve more than 200,000 people per MW of data centre capacity. Even with the projected development pipeline through 2030, six markets are expected to remain above this threshold. This underscores a significant variance in data centre infrastructure per capita across the region and highlights substantial headroom for capacity expansion. Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are still in the early stages of data centre development. These markets currently exhibit very low data centre density. While investor and operator interest is beginning to emerge, these markets may require a longer time horizon—potentially beyond 2030—to mature into fully established data centre ecosystems. While Hong Kong and Singapore demonstrate tight population per MW ratios, both markets serve broader regional demand in addition to domestic consumption. As well-established regional data centre hubs, they are strategically important in the Asia Pacific digital infrastructure landscape.

Population per MW (Colo) in 2024 and Forecast for 2030

2024 2030

1,773,459

500,000

1,251,113

1,340,004

1,095,326

791,230

692,563

573,146

449,306

373,955

351,310

366,349

239,824

219,601

202,321

157,962

50,000

98,993

No. of People

22,990

14,766

9,647

8,686

7,685

6,616

93,547 Japan

87,219 South Korea

13,933

60,603

30,636

63,484

30,113

42,059

19,314

22,867

5,000

Hong Kong, China

Singapore Australia Malaysia New Zealand

Taiwan, China

Thailand Chinese Mainland

Indonesia India Philippines Vietnam ASIA PACIFIC

USA

Source: IMF, Cushman & Wakefield APAC DCG

The population per colo MW ratio highlights significant headroom for growth across most markets in Asia Pacific • Except Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong, all markets in the region are currently serving over 60,000 people per MW, 2x higher than the U.S. • All markets excluding Chinese mainland and Singapore are forecast to optimise their population per MW ratios by over 50%.

• Malaysia, Thailand and Japan are forecast to witness the most consolidation, with ratios improving 78%, 72% and 68% respectively. • While most markets in the region are predominantly witnessing growth driven by domestic demand, Malaysia, especially Johor, is catering to international demand.

• The Asia Pacific region is on track to optimize its population per MW ratio by 55% however, it still forecasts to have a density of ~158,000 people per MW in 2030.

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