ANALYSIS: APAC Data Centre Capacity to Double by 2030 With $50B Investment; Key S/SEA Players, Growth Pipeline Mapped; Bridge Data Centre’s $2.8B Loan Leads Expansion Wave

• The Asia Pacific data centre market is experiencing significant growth, projected to double its capacity to around 24 gigawatts by 2030, driven by the surge of artificial intelligence and digitalisation. Outside China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Thailand will lead Asia’s growth, driven by expanding digital economies and government incentives;
• Data centre development is highly capital-intensive, with industry estimates suggesting $50 billion required for pipeline capacity in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Thailand. Fast-growing data centre operators are likely to seek debt financing in USD and local currencies for expansion;
• We mapped out key players in these countries with their existing and pipeline capacities, financing obtained in recent years, and identified data centre developers likely to seek growth financing;
• As a case study for regional expansion financing, Bridge Data Centre, or BDC – a sister company to China’s Chindata under Bain Capital and one of Southeast Asia’s larger hyperscale operators – relies heavily on long-term contracts with a few key clients, particularly ByteDance; and
• BDC’s $2.8 billion loan obtained in March 2025 weakens its near-term leverage profile, while elevated capex will pressure cash flow. However, the company’s credit profile should gradually strengthen as new facilities become operational, expanding its scale, stabilising cash generation, and potentially diversifying its customer base.

Asia-Pacific data centre capacity is set to double by 2030 to 24 GW, according to real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, driven by generative artificial intelligence and digitalisation. Outside China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Thailand lead this expansion, supported by growing digital economies and government incentives. Building this pipeline requires massive capital – industry estimates $50 billion for these four markets alone. This is already generating opportunities for debt providers and arrangers, including private credit specialists. Bain Capital-backed Bridge Data Centre, or BDC, exemplifies this financing wave, obtaining a $2.8 billion senior secured bank loan in March 2025 for regional expansion. This report maps out the sector in Asia-Pacific, or APAC, in part by examining BDC’s business profile and credit quality as a case study, while identifying other operators with strong growth pipelines (e.g. YTL, EdgeConneX, PDG, K2, Vantage, Airtel Nxtra) likely to tap debt markets soon.

Data Centre Sector Overview

The global data centre market is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by long-term technology trends reshaping digital infrastructure needs. Data centres’ total power capacity – the conventional way of measuring the sector’s scale – reached 42.35 GW worldwide in 2024, as per Cushman & Wakefield. The Americas remain the largest market, with 20.6 GW of operational capacity at the end of 2024, followed by APAC, with 12.2 GW. Another Cushman & Wakefield report expects APAC data centre capacity to double to ~24 GW by 2030, fueled by AI.
 

Within APAC, mainland China accounts for around one-third of existing capacity. Outside China, South and Southeast Asia are poised for the highest growth, with India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand emerging as key hubs, supported by expanding digital economies and government incentives.
 

The independent data centre market – excluding enterprise-run facilities – can be broadly categorised into three primary segments based on customer profile and operational scale. Enterprise-run facilities are data centres built and operated by companies for their own internal use rather than as commercial services.
 

• Colocation: Provides space, power, and cooling to multiple tenants. Retail colocation involves leasing individual racks or cages, while wholesale colocation leases full suites or halls to single tenants.
• Hyperscale: Purpose-built, large-scale facilities serving cloud providers and internet giants, typically ranging from 20 MW to over 100 MW. Designed for high efficiency and automation, these facilities increasingly include AI-optimised zones with specialised cooling and power infrastructure for high-density graphics processing unit clusters.;
• Carrier/telco: Operated by telecom providers, these facilities combine network hubs with data centre services.

The pace of data centre development hinges on multiple factors, including infrastructure readiness, regulatory frameworks, access to land and power, and the local regulatory environment. Rising APAC demand requires adequate power, capital, land and supportive regulations for rapid development:
 

Data Centre Development in South and Southeast Asia

Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India are leading the regional expansion, as shown in the chart below:
 

Malaysia

Malaysia’s data centre capacity is expected to double to 2.53 GW by 2030 by the Asia Pacific Data Centre Association, driven by a power surplus, abundant land supply, favourable zoning policies, and strong subsea cable connectivity. The country’s data centre ecosystem is concentrated in two main clusters – Johor State and the Greater Kuala Lumpur corridor, which includes Selangor and Cyberjaya. These areas offer low-latency connections to major global economies and benefit from well-developed infrastructure.

Cyberjaya, near Kuala Lumpur, used to be the core data centre development region and remains a key node, hosting over 30 facilities. Major tenants include multinational firms, banks, telecom operators and regional enterprises.

Johor has gained traction since 2020, with development centred around Iskandar Puteri, Sedenak, Kulai and Port Dickson. The region offers lower-cost land, proximity to Singapore, and direct access to critical subsea cables via Johor Bahru and surrounding areas. Hyperscale operators are building large-scale campuses here, many exceeding 50 to 100 MW. Total planned capacity in Johor exceeds 1.5 GW.
 

Key players include:
 

Tenaga Nasional Berhad, or TNB – Malaysia’s national utility – has been a key growth enabler. TNB has signed electricity supply agreements with multiple data centre operators that include high-volume power commitments, grid pre-provisioning, and support for renewable energy. TNB also plans to invest MYR 43 billion to expand grid capacity to support more data centres and future power demand.

Indonesia

Indonesia’s data centre capacity is projected to reach 970 MW in 2025 and grow to 2.11 GW by 2030, according to market research provider Mordor Intelligence, representing a 16.7% compounded annual growth rate, or CAGR. Colocation revenue is forecast to rise from $675.1 million in 2025 to $1.9 billion by 2030, growing 22.8% CAGR.

Most current capacity is located in Greater Jakarta. However, new hubs are emerging, including Batam – positioned as a digital bridge to Singapore – along with Surabaya, Bandung, Medan and Makassar.

Key players include:
 

India

In April 2025, India’s installed data centre capacity was 1.26 GW. Colliers expects India’s data centre capacity to reach 4.5 GW by 2030, driven by $20 billion to $25 billion in investments over the next five to six years.

Development is centred in four major metro areas: Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bengaluru. These markets account for the bulk of existing colocation and hyperscale capacity due to their stronger connectivity. A second tier of high-growth hubs is also emerging in Visakhapatnam, Kolkata (Bengal Silicon Valley) and Raipur. These cities are supported by state-level incentives, coastal submarine cable landing stations, and expanding power infrastructure. They are increasingly targeted as operators look beyond saturated core markets to meet rising cloud demand and data sovereignty needs.

Key players include:
 

Thailand

Thailand’s existing colocation capacity is estimated at over 100 MW, mostly located near Bangkok. There is a significant pipeline at over four times the current capacity. Apart from Bangkok, Chon Buri – located in the Eastern Economic Corridor – is also emerging as a hotspot.

Key players include:
 

Data Centre Financing

Data centre development is highly capital-intensive, requiring significant upfront investment in land, power, connectivity, and computing equipment. As operators across South and Southeast Asia accelerate expansion, they increasingly rely on debt financing through bond issuances, bank loans, and direct lending from private credit funds.

Key development costs typically include:
 

• Land and site acquisition costs
• Development, base build and construction costs; and
• Fit-out expenses, which are often passed through to tenants.

Cushman & Wakefield estimates the pipeline across Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Thailand requires $50 billion in investment. To understand this massive capital requirement, consider the cost of a single facility.

The estimated cost of developing a 50 MW, multi-level hyperscale facility on a 10-acre site varies significantly across different APAC markets, depending on land pricing and regulatory environment. The median cost stands at ~$10 million per MW. South and Southeast Asia generally sit at the lower end of the cost curve due to more affordable land, as shown in the table below:
 

Data centre operators are actively obtaining financing to fund their expansion, including the following notable transactions:
 

The data centre financing transactions are denominated in USD and local currencies. USD borrowing provides a natural hedge, as large-scale tenants often pay in dollars. However, local operating expenses – in particular utilities – create the need for local-currency funding.

Local currency markets lack the depth to fund billion-dollar data centre developments, pushing operators toward USD markets. In Malaysia, Islamic banks partially fill this gap, viewing data centres as attractive Shariah-compliant infrastructure investments.

We expect more data centre developers to raise capital in the coming quarters to fund a heavy expansion pipeline. Developers with hundreds of MW of pipeline will need multi-billion-dollar financing. Borrower candidates include:
 

• YTL: Over 500 MW in the pipeline in Johor, Malaysia;
• EdgeConneX: Around 300 MW under construction in Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya and Johor, Malaysia;
• Princeton Digital Group (PDG): 100 MW under construction in the suburbs of Jakarta;
• K2: A subsidiary of Malaysian conglomerate Kuok Group, is partnering with Sinar Mas Land for expansion in Indonesia;
• Vantage: Around 400 MW under construction in Cyberjaya, Malaysia; and
• Airtel Nxtra: A subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, it plans to increase capacity by 200 MW in India by 2025-2027.

Case Study: Bridge Data Centre

Backed by global private equity firm Bain Capital, BDC is a pan-Asia hyperscale data infrastructure builder. The company is expanding aggressively across South and Southeast Asia to meet rising digital infrastructure demand.

As reported, BDC obtained $2.8 billion in senior secured bank financing to support its regional expansion in Malaysia, Thailand, and beyond, according to a statement published on the company’s official website in March 2025.

BDC’s simplified organisational structure:
 

BDC is wholly owned by Bain Capital through WinTrix DC Group, formerly known as Chindata Group Holding Limited. Bain Capital acquired BDC in 2017 and Chindata in 2019, and subsequently merged the two into a pan-Asia hyperscale data centre platform. The combined Chindata Group went public in 2020 and was subsequently taken private in 2023.

Refer to Octus’ coverage on Chindata Group for more details HERE. Chindata Group was renamed WinTrix DC Group following the take-private.

Bain Capital is reportedly seeking to sell WinTrix’s China unit for over $4 billion, allowing the US-based firm to exit US-China geopolitical risks while pursuing Southeast Asia’s growing data centre opportunities.

Business Profile

BDC develops and operates hyperscale and wholesale colocation facilities across Malaysia, Thailand and India. In July 2022, BDC registered an entity in Indonesia, but has yet to operate there.

The table below provides a breakdown of BDC’s assets in operations and under development:
 

According to its website, BDC’s client base includes global cloud service providers, content delivery networks, financial institutions and enterprises requiring high-availability infrastructure.

Similar to its China-based sister company Chindata, BDC is likely to face tenant concentration risk. As highlighted by our 2023 report, Chindata derived 86% of its 2022 revenue from ByteDance. BDC’s largest operational site, MY06 (110 MW), lists ByteDance as its anchor tenant, according to a BDC press release. While ByteDance faces U.S. regulatory pressures regarding TikTok, the impact on its South and Southeast Asian data centre demand is likely to be minimally affected. ByteDance maintains its global headquarters outside China in Singapore, and TikTok’s operations in South and Southeast Asia should continue to drive infrastructure needs in the region.

By the end of 2022, BDC facilities MY03, Phase I of MY06 and BBY01 were fully contracted for. Hyperscale data centres generally have lease terms of five to ten years, underpinning revenue and earnings visibility.

Leasing under long-term contracts underpins high utilisation rates and provides revenue visibility. BDC has two revenue streams – colocation rental and colocation services. Over 90% of BDC’s revenue comes from colocation services.

Colocation rental is a service where the customer leases physical space within a data centre to house their own servers and IT hardware. BDC only collects rental from the customer.

Colocation services, on the other hand, provide a comprehensive, integrated package that includes not only the physical space but also essential resources like utilities, cooling, and maintenance services to support the customer’s operations. Customers are charged for colocation service fees based on usage.

Financial Profile

Octus reviewed the 2024 financials of BDC Assetco Pte. Ltd., the investment holding company that consolidates BDC’s opcos in Malaysia, Thailand, and India.

BDC Assetco reported $321.2 million consolidated revenue in 2024, up 2.6x from $122.2 million in 2023. The increase reflects full-year contributions from MY06 Phase II, commissioned in mid-2023, and Phase III, completed in early 2024

BDC Assetco’s revenue breakdown:
 

Malaysia generated $294.7 million, or 90% of BDC’s 2024 revenue, matching its 85% share of total operational capacity.

An overview of BDC Assetco’s key financial data and credit metrics:
 

Around half of BDC’s direct expenses are power and utility expenses, which are recoverable from customers under the colocation service business model. Another major item is depreciation, reflecting the capital-intensive nature of data centre development. Specifically, plant and machinery incur the highest depreciation charge, and these likely refer to computing hardware components with relatively short useful lives (5-15 years reported). EBITDA margin is high at 50% in 2024.

The company expanded rapidly in 2023 and 2024, with capex far exceeding earnings during both years. $875.1 million total capex in 2024 was largely in line with a $1.1 billion increase in gross debt.

Roughly 60% of BDC Assetco’s consolidated borrowings are at the BDC Malaysia level at the end of 2024. The remaining is likely attributable to subsidiaries in India and Thailand.

The $2.8 billion bank loan obtained earlier this year was likely raised at the Assetco level, secured against its regional portfolio of hyperscale developments. This structure is consistent with banks’ appetite for collateralised project-style financings, and allows drawdowns to be deployed flexibly across priority markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, India and other new geographies. It also aligns with the 2024 financing flows already booked at Assetco secured against bank accounts, land and buildings. BDC’s 2024 bank borrowings are denominated in USD and have variable interest rates with effective rates ranging from 6.3% to 8%.

Financing Structure

Typical loan tenors for data centre development range from five to seven years. Loans are interest-only during the construction phase, which typically lasts one to two years, with principal repayments starting once the site is operational. Lenders typically look through to assess tenant credit quality and leasing contract terms.
Data centre financing structures in APAC include:

• Asset-backed loans secured by real estate;
• Project finance based on contracted cash flows; and
• Holdco financing.

Some smaller players with limited banking access are likely to seek structured financing from private credit lenders, often with equity kickers.

For example, US-based AI data centre operator CoreWeave raised senior secured notes, or SSNs, from 2021 to 2023, ranging from $50 million to $125 million per tranche, before its initial public offering launched in early 2025. These SSNs feature structural elements and are more akin to mezzanine financing that we believe private lenders can adapt for Asian data centres seeking aggressive growth and are willing to consider higher cost financings. Based on CoreWeave’s precedence, we believe such financings can involve:
 

• Senior collateralization on fixed assets, excluding those already pledged under delayed-draw term loans and supplier financing;
• Tranched issuance;
• Coupon holiday with payment-in-kind interest initially, stepping up to the low-teens after a predetermined period if no liquidity event occurs;
• Early redemption premium grid protecting lender’s internal rate of return, or IRR;
• Equity warrants priced at the lower of future equity financing price or a fixed valuation grid that becomes increasingly dilutive over time;
• Debt-to-equity conversion aligned with exit events, with make-whole mid-teens IRR if no exit occurs by maturity;
• Participation rights allowing lenders to purchase shares in future equity offerings.

Investors are drawn to these structured financing solutions because they are income-generating while offering equity upside, benefitting from a company’s anticipated high-growth trajectory.