Asia | A glitch in the matrix

Asia is weighing data-centre ambitions against sustainability

Malaysia and Singapore illustrate the region’s resource balancing act

An illustration of a factory building with a chip image on the front with smoke containing binary code spewing out of the chimneys on a background of yellow and green shapes and flowers.
Illustration: Ben Jones
|Johor

The jungles of Johor, a Malaysian state, were cleared to grow pepper in the 1800s. After that came rubber and oil-palm plantations, followed by factories making electronics. Today data centres are thriving there, and are embroiled in a geopolitical tussle between America and China. But in Johor, other concerns are on people’s minds: how to make the data-centre boom sustainable.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “A glitch in the matrix”

From the October 12th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

A train on The Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in in Pingbian Miao Autonomous County

New railways could transform South-East Asia

China is keen to assist

An aerial view shows the village of Ulken (foreground) and the proposed nuclear power plant site.

Kazakhstan’s referendum on nuclear energy could benefit Russia

The opposition have been barred from campaigning or locked up


An Indian fruit seller offers guava on a motorcycle in the Hazratganj shopping area in Lucknow

Is India’s economy slowing down?

New data highlight old problems


Has Narendra Modi lost his mojo?

Two state elections suggest that India’s prime minister is no longer such a vote-winner

America v China: who controls Asia’s internet?

Amid an explosive data and AI boom the superpower contest hots up

China is using an “anaconda strategy” to squeeze Taiwan

Taiwan’s navy commander warns that his forces are increasingly strained