DayOne Data Centers Expands Malaysia Hub to Train 1,000 Engineers
DayOne establishes Johor training center for 1,000 engineers and expands KL shared services hub. Strategic move reinforces Malaysia's role as Southeast Asia's digital infrastructure powerhouse.
Singapore-headquartered hyperscale platform DayOne Data Centers announced on February 12, 2026, the establishment of a regional operations and training center in Johor, Malaysia, designed to train over 1,000 data center operations engineers for its Asia-Pacific network. The company is also expanding its Global Shared Services Center in Kuala Lumpur, reinforcing Malaysia's position as a critical hub for digital infrastructure development in Southeast Asia.
Regional Training Center Targets 1,000 Engineers
The Johor facility will serve as DayOne's regional operations and capability-building base, focusing training on artificial intelligence-ready infrastructure management, energy and water efficiency, safety standards, and operational resilience. The center will produce site supervisors, lead engineers, and operations heads for deployment across DayOne's regional network.
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Johor, DayOne's original entry point into Malaysia in 2022, has become the company's largest Asia-Pacific market. The state now functions as a Malaysia-anchored regional platform supporting operations management, talent development, and supply-chain localization. DayOne currently operates over 478 megawatts of hyperscale data center capacity across Johor's Nusajaya Tech Park and Kempas Tech Park campuses.
"Malaysia has been central to DayOne's development, and capabilities built here are now supporting our regional operations," said Jamie Khoo, chief executive of DayOne Data Centers. "We see Malaysia as a long-term strategic partner in building and operating the next generation of AI and digital infrastructure."
The company currently employs approximately 600 Malaysians, with direct employment projected to reach 1,500 by the end of 2026. Local procurement is expected to support an estimated 4,000 additional indirect jobs as the data center ecosystem expands.
Kuala Lumpur Shared Services Center Enters Phase Two
The Global Shared Services Center in Kuala Lumpur has entered Phase Two and is expected to employ over 200 local professionals when fully scaled. The facility supports global operations in finance, accounting, investment, procurement, and corporate support, anchoring higher-value, knowledge-based roles in Malaysia.
Jimmy Yan, general manager of DayOne Malaysia, emphasized the regional significance: "Johor is where DayOne started, and today it is where Malaysian operational capabilities are being built and deployed across the region. This is a practical example of how 'Made in Malaysia' expertise can scale regionally."
Massive Investment Signals Market Confidence
Since 2022, DayOne has invested more than RM14 billion (US$3.58 billion) in Malaysia and plans to commit a further RM67 billion over the next two years, totaling over RM81 billion in cumulative investment. The expansion reflects broader market momentum, with Malaysia's hyperscale data center market projected to grow from US$6.03 billion in 2025 to US$40.16 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate of 37.15%.
Malaysia has attracted over US$14.7 billion in hyperscale data center investment commitments from major operators including Google, AWS, Oracle, and Microsoft, positioning the country as a regional alternative to capacity-constrained Singapore. Johor's data center capacity is forecast to potentially exceed five gigawatts by 2035, driven by land costs approximately 60% cheaper than Singapore and strategic proximity enabling low-latency connectivity.
Regional Competition Intensifies
The competitive landscape shows self-built hyperscale campuses dominating with 55% market share in 2024, while colocation facilities grow faster at 38.4% compound annual growth rate. Princeton Digital Group's 150-megawatt AI-ready JH1 facility in Johor and NTT's 290-megawatt Johor campus exemplify the mega-scale projects establishing Malaysia's first hyperscale corridor for high-density workloads.
However, rapid growth has prompted regulatory scrutiny, with Johor rejecting up to 30% of new data center applications in 2025 due to sustainability concerns around power consumption and water usage. DayOne's focus on energy and water efficiency training reflects industry adaptation to these regulatory pressures.
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