In July 2026, the International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of the World Bank, approved a financing plan of up to $175 million for AirTrunk to support its data center project in Johor, Malaysia. A 150MW power plant has been fully contracted, and a 270MW power plant is being constructed. IFC entered the Southeast Asian computing power competition through a combination of debt and equity, adding another footnote.

420MW computing power bet

AirTrunk has planned two data centers in Johor. JHB1 is a large-scale data center that has been put into operation, with a capacity of over 150MW. The first phase was put into operation in July 2024. JHB2 is a newly built green project adjacent to the site, with a planned capacity of over 270MW. The two facilities together provide over 420MW of IT load, with an estimated total investment of over RM9.7 billion.

In terms of site selection, both data centers are located in the southern industrial and logistics cluster of Princess Iskandar, just across the water from Singapore. Electricity is supplied by the National Energy Corporation of Malaysia, while water resources are managed by Johor Water Company. IFC disclosed that the two data centers are expected to consume approximately 4468GWh of electricity and 910 million liters of water annually when operating at full capacity.

IFC enters the market to leverage greater capital

The financing plan of IFC, consisting of a combination of debt and equity investments, was approved by the board of directors on May 29th and is awaiting formal signing. IFC plans to help AirTrunk further mobilize capital and assist in addressing potential issues in environmental and social practices.

This funding is not an isolated action. In May 2026, AirTrunk was revealed to be marketing a $2.3 billion loan to support the construction of the JHB2 project, with approximately 12 banks participating in the arrangement. The addition of IFC has taken on the role of endorsing the project and leveraging more funds. Keywords: data center, computing power

The Malaysian data center market is rapidly heating up. The Malaysian government has stopped accepting applications for non AI related data centers and is concentrating resources on large-scale high-value projects. At present, Malaysia's planned and under construction data center capacity is about 4.6GW, almost entirely for AI applications. Kennag Investment Bank believes that the data center development cycle is expected to continue until 2030. On this rapidly expanding track, IFC's $175 million is both a bet on AirTrunk and a vote for Malaysia's computing power economy.Editor/Cheng Liting