KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment and advisory arm of the World Bank, on Wednesday announced a senior loan of US$150 million (RM705.04 million) to help finance the construction of a data centre in Malaysia by Yondr Group.

The loan will fund the first phase of the 300-megawatt, 72.5-acre (29.34-hectare) data centre at the Sedenak Tech Park in Johor, the IFC said in a statement. Once completed, the project will become the largest data centre campus in an emerging market in terms of land size and committed power capacity, it noted.

“Malaysia’s ambitions to become a key regional data centre hub gets a fresh boost following a sizeable investment from the IFC, in what will be one of the largest data centre campuses in the Asia-Pacific region,” the IFC said.

The project is the IFC’s third investment in Malaysia, since the multilateral development institution set up an office in the country last year.

In December 2023, the IFC also provided China’s Shandong Intco Recycling Resources Co Ltd with a blue loan of US$70 million to build a multi-material plastic recycling plant in Malaysia, and support the working capital needs of its operations.

“This project will help increase and improve digital connectivity for individuals and businesses in a sustainable manner, while increasing the competitiveness of the burgeoning market for data-hosting services in the country and the region,” said Katia Daude Gonçalves, the IFC's country manager for Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei.

For the Netherlands-based Yondr, the financing “demonstrates the potential the IFC sees not only in Yondr’s best-in-class capabilities, but also in Malaysia’s digital economy, which is developing at pace”, said Yondr chief financial officer Chester Reid.

“We look forward to expanding our growing relationship with the IFC, and partnering in Malaysia and other developing nations in the future,” he said.