It is unsurprising then that these countries have seen hyperscalers zone in to capture their slice of the cloud pie. Coupled with the strict regulations on new data centres set by Singapore with its 2019 moratorium, interest in emerging markets has only intensified. Malaysia, in particular, has already witnessed 113 MW take-up in 2022, with recent data centre investments sure to drive capacity availability further.
Businesses are pursuing digital transformation at breakneck speed across Southeast Asia (SEA), and the cloud remains central to their mission. In fact, the SEA market is arguably emerging to be one of the biggest cloud spenders globally – regional spending hit US$2.18 billion in 2022, up by 25% from the previous year.
Critically, the spotlight is shifting away from more mature markets, like Australia and Singapore, given the massive potential that lies in the region’s more nascent digital adopters. Still in the early stages of digital transformation, as many as 92% of businesses in Thailand, for instance, plan to increase cloud spend in the coming years. Similarly, more than 80% of organisations in Malaysia and Indonesia plan to do the same.
