SoftBank, Petros and Grab sign $1 billion Sarawak data center deal

SoftBank, state-owned Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) and Grab signed a joint development agreement to build data centers in Malaysia's Sarawak state, with an initial $1 billion (RM4.07 billion) of spending. SoftBank will fund $800 million of that tranche and Grab and Petros $100 million each, Data Center Dynamics reported.

The long-term target is 5GW of compute in the Borneo state. The partners said they will seek additional investors and hyperscaler customers, and that the data centers will be developed in close collaboration with Malaysia's federal and Sarawak governments. No timeline for reaching 5GW was given.

For an infrastructure allocator, whether Sarawak capacity earns infrastructure pricing will turn on the anchor lease the partners say they are seeking: the tenant, the contract term and the credit behind it. No customer has been named for the 5GW target, and the initial $1 billion is partner equity.

State-owned Petros plans to expand gas infrastructure in the region as part of a broader push for industrial expansion. Malaysia has pitched itself as an Asia-Pacific data center hub, and Google said this month it plans to invest $15 billion in the country, joining proposed investments from OpenAI, Tencent and PDG. The initial Sarawak tranche is about 7% of that figure.