Southeast Asia starts to rethink its AI data centre boom: ‘at what cost?’
Por Sam Beltran — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Asean This Week in Asia Economics Southeast Asia starts to rethink its AI data centre boom: ‘at what cost?’
With Thailand pausing projects and Malaysia facing grid pressure, regulators are learning that hosting the AI boom comes with a heavy cost
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Sam Beltran Published: 4:11pm, 5 Oct 2026 Southeast Asian governments are learning some hard truths about the data centre boom they spent years working to attract, analysts say – it promises jobs, digital infrastructure and a foothold in the AI economy, but the rapid buildout is also straining power grids, land and regulatory systems.
“There is this enthusiasm to attract investments, but now it raises the question: at what cost and at what speed?” said policy researcher Mark Manantan, a research fellow for the Centre for Global Security at La Trobe University.
At first, governments had good reason to aggressively compete for data centre investment, said political economist Alvin Camba, a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Indo-Pacific Security Initiative.
“They bring in large investments, support cloud and AI infrastructure, and governments worry about being left behind,” said Camba, who is also director of research at US-based AI firm Lyvi.
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