Johor Interconnect World Forum 2024

It should address the strategic role of Johor’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in boosting regional connectivity and data transfer capabilities. It should highlight the infrastructure investments and technological advancements being implemented to position Johor as a critical hub for data centers and telecommunications. The keynote should also emphasize the economic benefits, including attracting foreign investments, creating job opportunities, and fostering innovation.

• Current Infrastructure Assessment: Understand Malaysia’s strengths and weaknesses in telecom and data center infrastructure compared to global hubs, and how current offerings support the data center boom.
• Regulatory Challenges and Opportunities: Explore the regulatory framework’s impact on Malaysia’s potential as a connectivity and data center hub, including barriers like permitting and cable disruptions, and opportunities such as new guidelines for DC projects.
• Adoption of Emerging Technologies: Analyze Malaysia’s integration of AI, 5G, IoT, and cloud computing into its telecom and data center landscape, focusing on current capabilities, AI consumption trends, and infrastructure readiness.
• Investment Landscape: Evaluate the role of public and private sectors in funding telecom and data center expansion, identifying investment priorities, challenges, and the impact of ecosystem development on incumbents and new entrants.

Johor’s 15 Datacentres will use over 110 million litres of water a day — over 5% of Johor’s water capacity. This number is set to triple. Currently 20% of water is currently thrown away. This can be reduced to under 1.6% with new technologies. We share the new approach, together with case studies of Digital Realty and Keppel.

 This presentation will emphasize the critical importance of investing in digital infrastructure to drive Malaysia’s economic growth and technological advancement. It will highlight key challenges such as regulatory hurdles, funding gaps, and the imperative for skilled talent. The keynote will explore strategies to overcome these challenges, including fostering public-private partnerships, implementing policy reforms, and offering targeted incentives.

• Learn about the specific technical requirements and infrastructure needs for AI workloads.
• Gain insights into the financial aspects of deploying AI-focused data centers, including CapEx and OpEx consideration
•  Identify the opportunities that AI infrastructure development presents for Malaysia and Johor Bahru, and understand the competitive landscape.
•  Discuss the key challenges in developing AI infrastructure and explore strategies to overcome them.

The data center industry plays a pivotal role in our increasingly digital world, driven by the surge in AI applications and emerging technologies. However, the substantial energy consumption associated with data centers raises environmental concerns. Traditional brown energy sources are no longer tenable for sustaining sector growth. Instead, the imperative lies in adopting green electricity solutions. Discover how Ditrolic Energy assists its clients in procuring substantial volumes of compliant green electricity within Malaysia.

It will focus on the pressing issue of talent shortages in the rapidly growing data center sector in Johor. It will highlight the key challenges faced in attracting and retaining skilled professionals, including the competitive global market and the need for specialized expertise. The keynote will present effective strategies for bridging this gap, such as implementing robust education and training programs, fostering industry-academic partnerships, and creating attractive career pathways. It will also emphasize the role of government and private sector initiatives in enhancing the talent pool, ensuring that Johor’s data center industry remains competitive and capable of supporting the region’s digital infrastructure growth.

It should highlight key emerging trends such as the adoption of high-speed, low-latency connectivity solutions, advancements in optical networking, and the rise of edge computing. The keynote should touch on the growing need for robust security measures to protect interconnected data centers and the impact of these trends on businesses, emphasizing the strategic benefits and new opportunities for enterprises in a highly interconnected digital ecosystem.

• Global AI Wave and Early Resource Allocation in Southeast Asia: In the past two years, Chinese data centers have focused on early resource allocation in Southeast Asia, with Johor becoming one of the most important focal points. Could the panelists analyze the reasons behind this?
• Power Demand of AIDC: AIDC has a huge demand for electricity, which poses a significant challenge to Johor’s power supply. Are the panelists concerned about this issue? What about other aspects?
• Comparison with China’s Data Center Development: From the perspective of data center construction and development, at what stage of China’s data center development can Johor be compared to today? Is it possible to effectively apply and promote China’s experience in Johor?
• Attractions of Building Data Centers in Johor: I believe the panelists have conducted inspections in many places around the world. In your opinion, what is the biggest attraction of building data centers in Johor?