YTL Power champions Malaysia’s AI transformation with Johor mega data centre

At the heart of this transformation is YTL Power, whose strategic investments and partnerships are driving the country’s emergence as a sovereign AI hub, anchored by the newly operational Kulai Mega Data Centre in Johor.

The massive campus, developed in collaboration with Nvidia, is expected to reach full capacity within two years, according to YTL Power Managing Director Datuk Seri Yeoh Seok Hong.

“We already have 300 megawatts being built and commissioned on the site,” Yeoh told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

“It’s growing at a very rapid pace, and we reckon in the next two years this will be fully occupied.”

Located on a 1,640-acre site, the Kulai campus is powered by solar energy and backed by 600 megawatts of national grid supply.

It is equipped with Nvidia’s latest liquid-cooled NVL72 Grace Blackwell (GB200) GPUs, designed to support large-scale, high-performance AI and machine learning workloads.

Commissioned this month, the data centre is already operational, with customers including global hyperscalers beginning to use its facilities.

“We are now talking about further expansion,” Yeoh said.

“But the speed of that expansion will also be reliant on how quickly the Malaysian government embraces AI adoption across its operations and policies.”

YTL Power has invested RM10 billion into its AI drive, split evenly between infrastructure and solutions.

Among its most notable innovations is ILMU, Malaysia’s first large language model (LLM), developed to ensure data sovereignty and local IP ownership.

“This is a Malaysian-owned IP. It allows us to build our own ecosystem and lead in AI development, especially among third-world countries,” Yeoh said.

The Prime Minister, Yeoh added, was impressed by the rapid progress made since Huang’s first visit to Malaysia just 22 months ago.

Discussions are now underway to form a national AI advisory committee, with Nvidia’s input, to further accelerate Malaysia’s AI strategy.

YTL’s infrastructure is already powering real-world applications.

The launch of Right Bank, the world’s first AI-powered bank, showcases how Malaysian technology can deliver secure and efficient financial services, even in rural areas.

“You can open an account in two minutes, even from a kampung. This is the kind of transformation AI can bring to everyday Malaysians,” he said.

YTL is also working with around 200 local startups, helping them connect to its API ecosystem and build AI-driven solutions.

The government is supporting this innovation wave by offering preferential compute tokens, making it easier for startups to access high-performance AI capabilities.

With Malaysia’s stable governance, strategic location, and growing tech infrastructure, Yeoh believes the country is well-positioned to become Southeast Asia’s preferred destination for AI development, echoing its past success as a semiconductor hub.