Malaysia's ambition to become a data center hub is clashing with its commitment to reduce fossil fuel use. The rapid growth of energy-intensive data centers is hindering the country's clean energy targets.

Malaysia has staked its economic future on becoming Southeast Asia’s data-centre capital. It has also promised to slash fossil fuel use by 2050. Right now, those two ambitions are pulling in opposite directions – and gas is winning. There were 54 operational data centres across Malaysia by the end of 2024, with that number expected to rise to 81 by 2035, government minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir told parliament last year. In the handful of years from 2021 and mid-2025, some 144.4 billion...