Microsoft is increasing its investments in Malaysia by buying more land near the Singapore border from Crescendo Corp., a real estate company owned by palm oil tycoon Gooi Seong Lim. This is part of Microsoft’s plan to expand its data centers in the country.

Microsoft’s data center division, Microsoft Payments Malaysia, is buying a 91,249-square-meter piece of land in Johor’s Pulai district, located 60 kilometers from Singapore. The land costs 119.8 million ringgit (about $27 million). This is Microsoft’s fourth land purchase in Johor, which has been named the top area for data centers in Southeast Asia after attracting $32 billion in digital infrastructure investments in 2024.

Crescendo said selling the land will allow them to get a good price for it. Its subsidiary, Panoramic Industrial Development, owns a lot of land in Johor, an area being developed by Malaysia and Singapore into a special economic zone.

Microsoft Payments recently bought two pieces of land from Crescendo, a company listed in Kuala Lumpur, for a total of 447.6 million ringgit. It also purchased another site in Johor’s Kulai district, about 30 kilometers north of Singapore, from EcoWorld for 402.3 million ringgit.

Johor is becoming the main area for data center growth in Southeast Asia, especially after Singapore put a three-year pause on new data center projects because of issues with renewable energy and limited land. Along with Microsoft, other big companies like Airtrunk, K2 Strategic (owned by Malaysia’s wealthiest person, Robert Kuok), and a partnership between Francis Yeoh’s YTL Power and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are expanding their data center operations in Johor.

In May, Microsoft announced it will invest $2.2 billion over four years to help speed up Malaysia’s digital growth. Other big companies like Amazon, Google, and Oracle are also expanding in the country.

Real estate companies in Malaysia are getting involved in the data center boom. Crescendo has sold land to other data center companies, including Singapore’s ST Telemedia Global Data Centres and Damac’s Edgnex.

Crescendo is one of two companies owned by Lim and his family, who have a total net worth of $535 million. Lim is the chairman of Kim Loong Resources, a company that develops property and produces palm oil. He began his career as an aerospace engineer at the Atomic Agency of Canada.

Published: 30th January 2025

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