Malaysia’s New Data Centers Create Thousands of Jobs — And Worries About Power and Water Shortages
- Author: Ushar Daniele and Khadija Alam
- Full Title: Malaysia’s New Data Centers Create Thousands of Jobs — And Worries About Power and Water Shortages
- Type:
- Tags: #planet
- URL: https://restofworld.org/2024/malaysia-data-center-jobs-environment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feeds
Highlights
- The data center boom has created some 40,000 jobs in Malaysia, including for Simon.
“My new data center role pays double what I was earning,” the 31-year-old, who previously worked on a railway project, told Rest of World. “Earlier, the oil and gas sector paid engineers the highest wages in the country, but now data centers are offering the same or more.” (View Highlight)
- Malaysia’s main water regulator, the National Water Services Commission, has said that the country could face widespread water shortages in the next five years due to climate change and aging infrastructure, even without factoring in increased consumption by data centers.Electricity demand from data centers could exceed 5,000 MW by 2035, or nearly a fifth of the installed capacity of Peninsular Malaysia where Johor is located, the national electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad estimates. (View Highlight)
- Other areas in the country are also being promoted as desirable locations: Amazon Web Services is building its data center in Cyberjaya near Kuala Lumpur, while Google’s data center will be located in the western state of Selangor. (View Highlight)