Malaysia’s data centre boom faces backlash as residents protest over dust, water woes

The rapid increase in data centres in Malaysia came under the microscope on Saturday, with the AI-driven build-out drawing its first public protest in the Southeast Asian country.More than 50 people gathered in front of a data centre construction site close to a residential area in the southern state of Johor, demanding an end to dust pollution and compensation for any negative impact that the project might have on their health. The protesters also expressed concern that the facility will affect their water supply.Those gathered say they represent nearly 1,000 residents strewn across four housing estates in the Gelang Patah district. Located less than a kilometre (about half a mile) from the closest homes, the project is being developed for China’s Zdata Technologies. The developers did not meet the protesters, who dispersed after 90 minutes under the watch of dozens of police personnel.Malaysia has emerged as Southeast Asia’s main data centre hub, attracting companies from Oracle and Amazon.com to Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance – all needing more storage and processing capacity as data-hungry artificial intelligence services gain users. Tech giants are targeting the country for its relatively low cost and reliable infrastructure, as well as its proximity to business centres such as Singapore.Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.Zdata and the project’s local developer Tropicana Firstwide, a unit of Tropicana, did not respond to requests for a comment.