KUALA LUMPUR: Underground utilities and substation engineering specialist MN Holdings Bhd is partnering China’s Shanghai DC-Science Co Ltd (DCS) to develop a high-performance data centre in Malaysia.
The project, with an overall estimated value of US$600 million (RM2.65 billion) – projection from DC-Science – sees MN Holdings emerging as the Malaysian partner for DC-Science, under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) inked between its wholly owned subsidiary Mutu Nusantara Sdn Bhd and DC-Science on April 1, 2023.
The data centre project is part of a series of foreign direct investments secured for Malaysia in conjunction with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s maiden visit to China on March 30-April 2, 2023.
Spanning across a 20-acre site at Sedenak Tech Park, Johor, the high performance data centre is a significant milestone for Malaysia. It is DC-Science’s first location outside China, having set up more than 300 data centres across the home country.
Under the current planning, utilities for the project comprise a power load of 120MW with dual power supply to support the 12,000-rack facility. Daily average water supply is expected to be about 5,000 tonnes, while the network access infrastructure will be made available.
Development of Phase 1 is slated to begin this year, and operations are to start in the first half of 2024.
MN Holdings managing director Loy Siong Hay said the company is proud to represent Malaysia as DC-Science’s chosen partner, to ensure a successful rollout of the data centre service provider’s maiden project here.
“The partnership is a testament to MN Holdings’ core expertise in underground utilities construction, as well as substation engineering solutions, which spans the installation of electricity transmission cables, sewerage and drainage pipelines, as well as construction and commissioning of the plant.
“It marks further diversification of MN Holdings’ customer base, following its success in harnessing greater participation in large-scale solar projects and other works related to data centres and the semiconductor industry here.
“We are proud to take part in DC-Science’s expansion into Malaysia. This development reaffirms Malaysia’s position as an investment destination, and will be a boost for local talents supporting the booming data centre industry. We also believe that with the collaboration with DC-Science, we will able to further strengthen our technical know-how on construction and engineering of a data centre.
“As Malaysia sees more investments from both the local and international fronts, we are ready to offer our expertise in underground utilities infrastructure development and engineering,” he added.
This latest partnership with DC-Science will provide a boost to MN’s future order book, which stood at RM325.9 million as at Jan 20, 2023.
“MN Holdings will continue to explore opportunities among local and international clients here, leveraging on our core expertise in underground utilities and substation engineering to support the nation’s growth in digitalisation, energy and telecommunications,” Loy said.
Details on the scope of work will be finalised upon the signing of a supplementary agreement between DC-Science and MN Holdings.