SoftBank Group and Grab said on November 9 that they signed joint development agreements to build AI infrastructure in Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.

The projects include proposed initial seed capital of US$1.85 billion. Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (PETROS) Sarawak’s state-owned energy company, will join the Sarawak project.

SoftBank Group proposes US$1 billion, while Grab proposes US$750 million. PETROS would contribute US$100 million to the Sarawak project.

The funding would be deployed in stages, subject to development milestones, customer contracts, and closing conditions. The partners also plan to seek additional investors and hyperscaler customers.

The companies set a long-term target of at least 5 gigawatts of AI compute capacity across the two projects in Malaysia, to serve demand in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Malaysia’s data center market is growing. Johor Bahru is among Asia’s fastest-growing hubs, and a market report lists 61 existing data centers nationwide.

The proposal also fits SoftBank Group’s broader push into AI infrastructure. The company previously announced plans for 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity.

🔗 Source: SoftBank