The Guardian reported on November 7 that south-east Asia’s datacentre build-out has hit a pause, citing Cushman & Wakefield’s APAC Data Centre H1 2026 Update, which found that south-east Asia accounts for approximately 50% of the under-construction data centre capacity in Asia Pacific (The Guardian; Cushman & Wakefield). Cushman & Wakefield said Malaysia leads with 1,039 megawatts (MW) under construction, followed by Thailand at 859MW.
Thailand then paused construction on about 49 data centre projects and approval decisions on more than 117 others in September, while agencies drafted new criteria, Nation Thailand reported (Nation Thailand). By our arithmetic, Malaysia and Thailand together, 1,898MW, are about 40% of the 4.8 gigawatts (GW) under construction across Asia Pacific.
Business Pill · Concentration
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on concentration. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss Cushman & Wakefield’s figures or data centres in south-east Asia.
The key insight: Cushman & Wakefield counts south-east Asia as about half of the data centre capacity under construction in Asia Pacific, led by Malaysia at 1,039MW and Thailand at 859MW; Thailand paused construction on about 49 projects and approvals on more than 117 in September, pending new criteria.
In its release of August 5, Cushman & Wakefield said the Asia Pacific development pipeline reached a record 26.5GW in the first half of 2026, made up of 4.8GW under construction and 21.7GW planned. The region added 7.1GW to the pipeline in six months, and about 1.4GW of operational capacity was delivered.
Much of the momentum is in Johor and Bangkok, the firm said. Johor’s under-construction capacity nearly doubled to 602MW, with a development pipeline of 3,088MW and 1,110MW operational. Bangkok’s under-construction capacity rose 148% to 859MW, its pipeline stands at 2,084MW and 134MW is operational. Jakarta’s pipeline is 1,699MW, with 395MW under construction.
Pritesh Swamy, head of research and consulting for Cushman & Wakefield’s data centre group in Asia Pacific, said: “In most markets, speed to market is increasingly shaping development decisions.”
Malaysia (1,039MW) and Thailand (859MW) hold about 40% of the 4.8GW of data centre capacity under construction in Asia Pacific in the first half of 2026, by our arithmetic. Data: Cushman & Wakefield, APAC Data Centre H1 2026 Update (release, August 5). The figures predate Thailand’s September pause.
Thailand’s Pause
Nation Thailand reported that Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas told the national committee on data centre policy on September 4 that it had received clear policy direction from the Prime Minister. Data from 16 agencies showed 35 data centre projects or companies already in operation, around 49 under construction and more than 117 awaiting permission or consideration.
The meeting resolved to temporarily pause construction on all data centre projects already under way, and the granting of permission for all pending applications, until there is clarity on the minimum environmental and social standards they must meet. We reported in October that Thailand was drafting data centre rules (our piece).
Power and Water
The Guardian cited energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie’s estimate that data centres in Johor already account for 24% of the state’s total power consumption. Alvin Tan, a research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, told the Guardian: “The rapid growth of datacentre developments in Johor has the potential to create localized grid connection bottlenecks and increase the need for transmission network upgrades as well as new power supply capacity”.
The Guardian also reported that Thailand’s energy minister, Akanat Promphan, has called for a new electricity user category with higher tariffs for data centres, and that Johor announced it would no longer approve Tier 1 and Tier 2 data centres. Google funded a water plant in Malaysia ahead of a data centre there (our piece).
Google and Thailand
Separately, Nation Thailand reported on November 6 that Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, met Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul (Nation Thailand). According to the Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson, Ekkapob Pianpises, Google reaffirmed its commitment to investing in Thailand and gave its views on possible changes to the rules on water and electricity use.
Anutin also discussed a proposed one-stop service for data centre permits that would use AI at every stage, the report said; Google expressed interest and said it already had a similar AI project. The report gave no investment figure.
Our Numbers
By our arithmetic from Cushman & Wakefield’s figures, Malaysia’s 1,039MW and Thailand’s 859MW add up to 1,898MW, about 40% of the 4.8GW under construction across Asia Pacific. Johor’s 602MW is about 58% of Malaysia’s under-construction total, also our arithmetic.
As we read it, the same kind of limit shows up elsewhere: local votes on data center limits in the US (our piece) and a Deutsche Bank note on such limits (our piece), and protests at a Microsoft site in Amsterdam (our piece).
The Structural Read
As we read the figures, Malaysia and Thailand together, 1,898MW, are about 40% of the 4.8GW under construction across Asia Pacific, by our arithmetic, so a pause in either market touches a large share of the region’s build.
As we read the Guardian’s reporting, the limits being discussed in the region are power and water: Wood Mackenzie puts Johor’s data centres at 24% of the state’s power use, and Thailand’s energy minister has called for higher data centre tariffs.
As we read the Nation Thailand readout, Google is engaging on the rules themselves: it gave views on possible changes to water and electricity rules, and the report gave no new investment figure.
Alvin Tan, research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, to the Guardian
“The rapid growth of datacentre developments in Johor has the potential to create localized grid connection bottlenecks and increase the need for transmission network upgrades as well as new power supply capacity”
Three Implications
FOR HYPERSCALERS Cushman & Wakefield’s figures put about half of the region’s under-construction capacity in south-east Asia, where Thailand has paused construction and approvals pending standards, Nation Thailand reported.
FOR UTILITIES The Guardian reported Wood Mackenzie’s estimate that data centres already account for 24% of Johor’s power consumption.
FOR GOVERNMENTS Nation Thailand reported that Thailand plans to move from agency-by-agency approvals to a co-ordinated national strategy, and that Anutin discussed an AI-based one-stop permit service with Google.
The analysis says: “The job of any operator, investor, or builder is to know which layer they are operating inside and which layer the binding constraint is rotating toward next.”
As we read it, power, water and permits are the physical constraints this story is about, in south-east Asia as in the US. The analysis does not discuss Cushman & Wakefield’s figures or Thailand’s pause.
What Is Not Established
Cushman & Wakefield’s figures are for the first half of 2026 and were published on August 5, before Thailand’s September 4 pause; it is not reported how many of the paused projects, or how many megawatts, are in its count. The south-east Asia share is the firm’s approximate figure. Whether the pause is still in force is not reported; the Guardian reports that Thailand announced an approval framework for new projects that considers energy and water use, without dating it against the pause. The Google meeting readout gives no investment amount. This piece makes no forecast.
This Week In The AI Supercycle
The Great Convergence of Capital, Power, and Geopolitics
This week’s issue: for two years the AI build-out was priced as a supply story, and last week as a credit story. This week it was priced as a permission story, and the answer arrived as a cost, not a ban.
Cushman & Wakefield counts south-east Asia as about half of the data centre capacity under construction in Asia Pacific, led by Malaysia at 1,039MW and Thailand at 859MW, about 40% of the regional 4.8GW by our arithmetic. Thailand paused construction on about 49 projects and approvals on more than 117 in September, pending new criteria.
A note on sourcing. Capacity figures and the Swamy quote are from Cushman & Wakefield’s August 5 release on its APAC Data Centre H1 2026 Update; the Wood Mackenzie estimate and quote, the energy minister’s tariff call and Johor’s approval rule are as reported by the Guardian on November 7; Thailand’s pause and the Google meeting are as reported by Nation Thailand on September 4 and November 6. Totals and shares are our arithmetic. This is not investment advice.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
