Malaysia’s 27 Approved Data Centre Projects: RM226 Billion and 4,053 Jobs. What That Actually Means for Malaysian Workers (2026)
Contents
On 14 October the Digital Ministry told Parliament that 27 data centre projects had been approved under Malaysia’s Data Centre Task Force up to July 2026, with estimated investment of RM225.97 billion and 4,053 jobs expected. Two weeks later the minister repeated the figures while closing his budget debate. The investment number is enormous. The jobs number is not, and the gap between the two is the most important thing to understand about Malaysia’s data centre boom if you are a worker, a parent or an investor.
This article sets out what the 27 projects are, what kind of jobs they create, what those jobs pay, how Malaysians are getting into them, and why every official now says the industry must not be judged by investment value alone.
📌 Key points
- 27 projects, RM225.97 billion, 4,053 jobs: that is about RM56 million of investment per job. Manufacturing approvals in 2025 created a job for every RM1.2 million.
- 3,523 of the jobs are high-skilled, in electrical and mechanical engineering, networking, cybersecurity and operations, and 89% of those are expected to go to Malaysians.
- The pay is real: entry-level roles at RM3,000 to RM7,000 a month and senior roles at RM10,000 to RM30,000, against a national median salary of RM2,793. Tax-incentive rules require local hires at RM5,000 and above.
- The wider count is bigger: 117 data centres approved nationwide worth RM385.7 billion, with 55 already operating. Johor alone hosts 1,110 MW of live capacity, third in Asia-Pacific.
- The constraint is no longer approvals but power and water. The government now charges operators for grid upgrades and unused capacity, requires 30% renewable supply, and has stopped approving anything that is not AI-related.
What the 27 projects are
The Data Centre Task Force is a joint platform of the Trade Ministry and the Digital Ministry, set up in February 2025 with MIDA as the single door for applications. Its 27 approvals to July 2026 break down as 16 in Johor, 10 in Selangor and one in Negeri Sembilan. One is operating; 26 are under construction. The ministry did not disclose the operators, the total megawatts, or the single operating site.
Each approval carries conditions: at least 30% local content in the build, implementation reports to MIDA every six months, and an expectation that operators work with training institutions. TalentCorp is developing a Data Centre Facilities Management Programme to feed them, though no launch date has been published.
The 27 is one count among several, and the differences confuse people:
| Count | What it covers | Who, when |
|---|---|---|
| 27 projects, RM225.97bn, 4,053 jobs | Approved by the Task Force, to July 2026 | Digital Ministry, 14 Oct 2026 |
| 117 data centres, RM385.7bn | All approved nationwide: 55 operating, 19 under construction, 16 approved but not started, 27 at various stages | Trade Minister Johari Abdul Ghani, 28 Oct 2026 |
| 24 applications | Received, no decision yet | Johari, 28 Oct 2026 |
| 65 projects | Approved by Johor’s state committee; 21 operating at about 1.1 GW | Johor exco Lee Ting Han, 25 Oct 2026 |
The companies behind the national pipeline are known even if their Task Force status is not: YTL Power’s Nvidia-powered campus in Kulai has 300 MW built and another 200 MW due by early 2027; AirTrunk announced RM12 billion for two more Johor sites in April; ByteDance’s cumulative investment exceeds RM29.5 billion; Oracle’s Kulai region went live in February; Microsoft’s Greater KL region has run since May 2025; DayOne has committed over RM28 billion; Google’s Selangor campus is now expected around mid-2027. Data centres and cloud made up about 44% of all investment Malaysia approved in the first half of 2026.
The jobs: how many, what kind, what they pay
How many. 4,053 in total, 3,523 of them high-skilled, with 89.21% of the high-skilled roles, roughly 3,140 positions, expected to go to Malaysians. The figure follows MIDA’s standard method of counting the investor’s projected permanent headcount, so construction labour is on top of it. The ministry named the skills: electrical and mechanical engineering, networking, cybersecurity, and data centre operations and maintenance.
Why so few. A data centre is a building full of machines that runs itself. Bank Negara put it plainly in its 2025 bulletin: data centres “typically generate fewer jobs compared to industries like manufacturing, due to automation and remote operations.” A hyperscale site may employ as few as 150 people once built; the Digital Minister himself said in September that a data centre employs “a few dozen”. A KPMG study for the industry found Malaysia’s 54 operating data centres supported about 1,000 direct operational jobs in 2024, projected to reach 7,300 by 2030, with perhaps 30,900 when indirect and induced jobs are counted, plus around 20,000 construction jobs a year at the peak of the build. Set against RM225.97 billion, the 4,053 figure works out at RM55.8 million of investment per job. Malaysia’s 2025 manufacturing approvals created a job for every RM1.2 million.
What they pay. This is the part that favours workers. Bank Negara’s figures, drawn from job listings, put entry-level roles such as junior engineers and cloud specialists at RM3,000 to RM7,000 a month, and senior roles such as facility managers and project directors at RM10,000 to RM30,000. The national median salary in 2024 was RM2,793. The government’s Tier 1 tax incentive for data centres requires operators to hire Malaysians at RM5,000 a month or more. Recruiter guides for 2026 put data centre electrical engineers at RM5,000 to RM11,000, mechanical engineers at RM5,000 to RM9,000, and network and operations-centre engineers at RM4,000 to RM8,000 at mid-level. The entry rung is lower: Johor’s technician programme places diploma holders at RM3,500 to RM4,000, and the job-board average for a data centre technician is about RM4,500.
| Role | Typical monthly pay | Usual entry route |
|---|---|---|
| Data centre technician | RM3,500 to RM4,500 | Diploma, TVET, JTDC programme |
| Electrical engineer (chargeman) | RM5,000 to RM11,000 | Degree plus Energy Commission competency |
| Mechanical and cooling engineer | RM5,000 to RM9,000 | Degree, HVAC certification |
| Network, systems and NOC engineer | RM4,000 to RM8,000 | Degree, vendor certifications |
| Facility manager, project director | RM10,000 to RM30,000 | 10+ years in critical facilities |
How Malaysians are getting in
The training pipeline is young but real, and almost all of it is in Johor.
- The Johor Talent Development Council’s Data Centre Technician Programme, launched in March 2025 with Johor Skills College, targeted 200 vacancies at RM3,500 to RM4,000.
- STT GDC, with the council, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and EPI, began a sponsored Data Centre Foundation Certificate course in April 2026, 15 students a year for five years, with internships.
- DayOne is building a Regional Operations and Training Hub in Johor to train more than 1,000 data centre engineers and roughly double its own Malaysian workforce to about 1,200.
- Tencent Cloud partnered with UTM in August to train over 1,000 cloud and AI talents; Huawei has promised 30,000 across three years.
- The council’s Mega Job Fair on 23 to 25 October drew 44 employers and more than 3,000 vacancies, with YTL Data Centers recruiting for operations, engineering and IT. Johor’s Menteri Besar projected 26,000 job opportunities statewide this year across advanced manufacturing, energy, logistics and data centres.
If you are choosing a path: the electrical and mechanical trades are the shortage, the Energy Commission’s chargeman competency is the single most valuable certificate, and the sites are in Kulai, Sedenak, Iskandar Puteri, Cyberjaya and Elmina.
The constraint has moved from approvals to power and water
Through 2026 the government’s tone has shifted from courting data centres to rationing them. The Prime Minister told Parliament in February that applications unrelated to AI or advanced technology had been stopped. The Trade Minister said on 28 October there is no blanket moratorium, but “not everyone can come to Malaysia. We have to be very selective”, and states without enough water will not host data centres even if land is available.
The numbers explain why. Malaysia has approved 12.3 GW of electricity supply for data centres; actual consumption in August was about 1,374 MW, 58.5% of the 2,346 MW operators have contracted. Peak data centre demand is projected at 8.39 GW by 2030. If all 117 approved sites ran at full capacity they would draw 23,000 to 23,500 MW, more than the entire Peninsular grid’s record peak of 21,583 MW in June. So the rules changed: operators now pay for the transmission upgrades their sites need and for their full contracted capacity whether they use it or not (“We charge you. That is our policy now,” the minister said), pay market-rate power with no subsidy, must source 30% of their demand from renewables once the framework is finalised, pay a dedicated water tariff of RM5.30 to RM5.38 per cubic metre, and must hold two days of water storage on site.
For a worker this is good news dressed as bad. Fewer, better-screened projects with local-content rules and six-monthly reporting are more likely to be built, staffed and kept running than a long list of approvals that never break ground.
What it means for a Malaysian trader
- Read the investment number as capital, not jobs. RM226 billion is mostly land, power infrastructure and imported servers. Bank Negara notes that data centre equipment lifted Malaysia’s capital imports to an average RM17.8 billion a month in 2025 and that foreign-owned sites will repatriate profits. The GDP contribution was about RM14.1 billion in 2025, roughly 1%.
- The listed exposure is landlords, power and construction. YTL Power, Tenaga, the Johor property and construction names, and the suppliers who win the 30% local content. The operators themselves are mostly unlisted here.
- Power policy is the swing factor. The user-pays rules, the renewable mandate and the January 2027 electricity surcharge all land on operator margins. Watch Energy Commission announcements, not just MIDA’s.
- The talent story is slow and real. Several thousand well-paid engineering jobs over five years will not move the KLCI, but they will move household incomes in Kulai and Cyberjaya. Treat the jobs number as a floor on quality, not a measure of scale.
FAQ
How many jobs will Malaysia’s 27 approved data centre projects create?
About 4,053, according to the Digital Ministry’s reply to Parliament on 14 October 2026, of which 3,523 are high-skilled roles. Malaysians are expected to fill 89.21% of the high-skilled jobs.
Why do data centres create so few jobs?
They are highly automated and run largely remotely. Bank Negara notes they generate fewer jobs than manufacturing; a hyperscale site may employ as few as 150 people once operating. The 27 projects work out at roughly RM56 million of investment per job.
How much do data centre jobs pay in Malaysia?
Entry-level roles pay about RM3,000 to RM7,000 a month and senior roles RM10,000 to RM30,000, per Bank Negara’s survey of listings. Technician programmes start at RM3,500 to RM4,000. Tax-incentive rules require local hires at RM5,000 or more.
Where are the data centre jobs?
Mostly Johor, which has 16 of the 27 approved projects and about 1,110 MW of live capacity around Kulai, Sedenak and Iskandar Puteri, followed by Selangor with 10 projects around Cyberjaya and Elmina.
Is Malaysia stopping new data centres?
No blanket moratorium, but approvals are now limited to AI and advanced-technology projects, operators pay for grid upgrades and unused contracted power, 30% renewable supply is required, and states short of water are excluded. 24 new applications were pending as of 28 October 2026.
Summary
Malaysia’s 27 Task Force-approved data centres represent RM225.97 billion of investment and 4,053 expected jobs, about 3,140 of them high-skilled roles for Malaysians in electrical, mechanical, network and security engineering. The jobs are few because the facilities are automated, but they pay two to ten times the national median, and a Johor-centred training pipeline is forming to fill them. With 117 data centres approved nationwide and power demand that could exceed the whole grid’s peak, the government has shifted from attracting projects to rationing them by electricity, water and AI relevance. For workers the opportunity is specific and well paid; for investors the exposure is in power, property and the local supply chain rather than in the headline number.
Disclaimer
This article is for education only and is not investment or career advice. Figures are taken from parliamentary replies, ministry and agency statements, central bank publications, industry studies and news reports dated as stated, and may be revised. Salary ranges are indicative. Check the source before acting on any number.
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