Microsoft has acquired a plot of land in Johor, Malaysia, likely for a data center.
Local property development firm Crescendo Corporation Berhad (CCB) this week announced it had sold a 102,560 sqm (1.1 million sq ft) plot of land in the Pulai area of Johor to Microsoft.
CCB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Panoramic Industrial Development Sdn. Bhd., has entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement with Microsoft Payments (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. for a cash consideration of RM132,471,276 ($27.9m). The deal is expected to complete in Q4 2042.
According to CBB, the land can only be used for a medium industry area for the purposes of data center and associated uses.
Microsoft announced plans for a Malaysian Azure cloud region in Kuala Lumpur back in 2021; the region is still listed as “coming soon” on the company’s website.
Johor, located in Malaysia’s south, is just across the border from Singapore. Though Singapore is starting to ease restrictions around its ongoing moratorium on new data center developments, Johor has grown a sizeable data center market of its own as developments overspill from the city-state.
Other developers and operators in Johor include PDG, AirTrunk, Equinix, Keppel, ChinData's Bridge DC, and Yondr.
Microsoft opened its Singapore Azure cloud region in 2010; the region has three availability zones. The company was selected as one of four companies granted permission to build new data center capacity in Singapore last year.
Crescendo Corporation has previously sold land in Johor to STT GDC for a data center development.
