The International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to provide a financing package of up to US$175 million to data centre operator AirTrunk through a combination of debt and equity investment. The project has been approved but remains pending signing, according to IFC disclosures.

The funding will support AirTrunk’s expansion in Johor, Malaysia, covering its fully contracted JHB1 hyperscale data centre, which has more than 150MW of capacity, and the planned JHB2 campus, a greenfield development of more than 270MW.

IFC also intends to help mobilise further capital for AirTrunk’s expansion and work with the company to address gaps identified in its environmental and social practices.

JHB2 will be developed next to JHB1. Both campuses are located in Iskandar, Johor Bahru, on industrial land formerly known as the Southern Industrial and Logistics Cluster.

The projects are intended to add data centre capacity serving Malaysia and the wider Asia-Pacific region, while supporting direct and indirect employment during construction and operations.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad supplies power to both campuses, while Ranhill SAJ holds Johor’s water supply concession.

A water purification plant and related infrastructure are also planned to supply the campuses using recycled wastewater. The project, to be developed and operated with Johor Special Water, will include a treatment plant, pipelines, and pumping stations.

AirTrunk, which is reportedly preparing to file for a Singapore-listed real estate investment trust IPO, manages procurement for the developments, while Leightons Malaysia is responsible for construction and fit-out. 

The company uses a combination of on-site assembly and prefabricated modular components. Once construction is complete, AirTrunk’s project development team will commission the facilities before handing them over to operations.

At full utilisation, JHB1 and JHB2 are expected to consume about 4,468GWh of electricity and 910 million litres of water annually, according to IFC documents.

IFC estimates the campuses will generate about 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year. Around 99% of those emissions are expected to come from grid-supplied electricity, with the remainder linked to diesel-powered backup generators and refrigerant losses.

The campuses will receive 30MW of solar power through a private power purchase agreement, while AirTrunk plans to install 1MW of rooftop solar capacity at each data centre.

AirTrunk operates data centres across Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, with four sites in Johor.

In May, the company announced plans to invest MYR12 billion, or about US$3 billion, in two new Malaysian data centres. JHB3 and JHB4 will be built in Iskandar Puteri, near its existing JHB1 and JHB2 campuses.

More recently, AirTrunk and renewable energy developer ib vogt began commercial operations at a 29.99MWac solar project developed under Malaysia’s Corporate Green Power Programme. The project will support AirTrunk’s operations in the country.