Latest news with #AshleyTang
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Malaysia to build 50% more gas-fired power capacity to meet data centre demand, official says
By Sudarshan Varadhan and Ashley Tang KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysia is expected to add 6-8 gigawatts of gas-fired power by 2030 to address growing electricity consumption driven by demand from data centres, an industry official said. The country is expected to see the fastest surge in data centre power demand in southeast Asia, with its share of electricity consumed by data centres in the region to triple to 21% by 2027 from 7% in 2022, a joint report in May by Bain & Co with others including Google and Temasek showed. Rising gas demand could see Malaysia, the fifth-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), start importing the super-chilled fuel in four to five years, the head of state energy firm Petronas told the Energy Asia conference this week. Megat Jalaluddin, CEO of state utility Tenaga Nasional Berhad, said he expects Malaysia to add 6-8 gigawatts of gas-fired power by building new plants and extending the life of existing ones as it looks to cut dependence on coal. That represents a 40-54% increase from the current 15 GW of gas-fired capacity. Total power consumption in Malaysia is on track to increase 30% by 2030, and Malaysia has already invited industry proposals for supply, he said. "We want to phase out coal responsibly. Then the next best option that can basically take the place of coal is gas," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Energy Asia event. Malaysia could also add as much as 10 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, more than doubling the 9 GW currently, as data centres push for access to cleaner sources of power, he said. In the last two years, Malaysia has turned to its coal-fired power plants to address surging demand which grew at the fastest pace in 14 years in 2024, according to energy think-tank Ember. Data centres are expected to require 19.5 GW of power generation capacity by 2035, accounting for 52% of Peninsular Malaysia's electricity use, from about 2% now, Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah Yusof told Reuters. Technology giants including Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet's Google and ByteDance have announced billions of dollars in investments in Malaysia since the beginning of last year, powering an infrastructure boom. Malaysia's southern state of Johor has emerged as Southeast Asia's hottest data centre hub due to its proximity to Singapore, relatively cheap land and power and faster approvals, real estate consultancy Knight Frank said in a report. (Additional reporting by Michele Pek in SingaporeEditing by Tony Munroe and Elaine Hardcastle)
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Malaysia's Petronas to cut 10% of workforce, not exiting Canada, CEO says
By Ashley Tang KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysian state energy firm Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, will retrench about 10% of its workforce in a restructuring exercise, its chief executive said on Thursday. Tengku Muhammad Taufik also denied at a media briefing that the state firm was exiting its business in Canada. Local media has previously reported Petronas as saying it needed to "rightsize" its workforce to ensure the company's survival in the coming decades. Petronas has nearly 50,000 employees, according to its website. Bloomberg had reported earlier on Tuesday that Petronas is considering a sale of its Canadian company, formerly known as Progress Energy Resources Corp. "Canada is crucial to our ambitions to preserve our position in the liquefied natural gas space," Tengku Taufik said.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ASEAN unveils strategic plan to integrate its economies
By Danial Azhar, Ashley Tang KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN on Tuesday announced an ambitious strategic plan that includes harmonising trade standards and greater financial integration in an effort to collectively become the world's fourth-largest economy. The five-year, 41-page plan for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, released during a leaders' summit in Malaysia, calls for increased regional trade, freer movement of businesses and people, enhanced transparency and regulatory practices and sustainable mining, industry and farming policies to attract foreign investment. The plan said ASEAN countries - Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei - must deepen their economic integration, pursue energy security, boost transport connectivity and strengthen supply chains. "Carrying on with business as usual will not suffice for this highly dynamic economic region," the plan said. "For ASEAN to become the fourth-largest global economy by 2045, countries in the region will need to deepen their economic integration and enhance their agility to address multifaceted challenges." The document identified several challenges for ASEAN's economic integration ranging from geopolitical tensions, shifting trade flows and technological transformation to climate change impacts and demographic shifts. Formed in 1967 initially as five members, ASEAN established an economic community in 2015 with the aim of integrating its economies and boosting the region's global standing. But despite rapid growth of its members economies in recent years and a collective GDP of $3.8 trillion, integration has been slow, with huge differences in its members' economies, political systems, population sizes and development levels, and no central authority to ensure compliance with ASEAN agreements and initiatives. The strategic plan said ASEAN's Economic Community Council would be be responsible for implementing the strategies while the ASEAN secretariat would monitor implementation. The ongoing tariff war between the United States and China and steep U.S. tariffs on Southeast Asian countries has created urgency for ASEAN to move towards regional integration faster, said Tricia Yeoh, Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. Yeoh said ASEAN countries must recognise the greater collective value of unified negotiations rather than pursuing bilateral agreements on their own. 'ASEAN needs to demonstrate efficacy in order for it to remain relevant. If they can't even achieve negotiating over Myanmar or the code of conduct with China on the maritime issue, people will question ASEAN's purpose,' she said, referring to two thorny political issues within the bloc.
New Straits Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Malaysia puts anti-dumping duties on some flat-rolled iron, non-alloy steel products
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Trade Ministry on Tuesday said it had imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports from China, India, Japan, and South Korea of flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel that are clad, plated or coated with tin. Anti-dumping duties of 27.88 per cent will be imposed on imports from India, while Chinese shipments will face rates ranging from 4.48 per cent to 20.42 per cent, the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement. Japanese shipments will be subject to rates ranging from 15.74 per cent to 36.8 per cent, while products sourced from South Korea will face duties ranging from 21.6 per cent to 35.43 per cent. The ministry said the government decided on the rates after an investigation. It said the anti-dumping duties took effect on May 11, and will last for five years. (Reporting by Ashley Tang; Editing by John Mair)
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Equinix Malaysia unit eyes alternative energy options amid expected electricity tariff hike
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -The Malaysian unit of data centre firm Equinix said on Wednesday it is looking at various providers of alternative energy as it expects an impending increase in domestic electricity tariffs to raise its costs. Malaysia's government has previously announced that it will increase electricity tariffs by 14.2% in July. Various renewable energy service providers were being looked into, Equinix Malaysia managing director Cheam Tat Inn told reporters during a walkabout at the completion of the second phase of its data center in Cyberjaya. Cheam did not specify which renewable sources or a timeline. Equinix Malaysia has two data centres, Cyberjaya and Johor, with capacity of 4.8 megawatts and 2.4MW, respectively. Malaysia has recently experienced a boom in data centers with projections of a quadrupling of its facilities in the next decade from the current 18. Those presently have a significant electrical demand of at least 800MW. Technology giants including Microsoft, Nvidia Alphabet's Google, China's ByteDance and Oracle have announced billions of dollars worth of digital investments into Malaysia since last year, mostly in cloud services and data centres, powering an infrastructure boom driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence. Cheam said the Equinix Johor data centre was fully subscribed after launching in May last year. 'For our Cyberjaya data centre, it is already filling up, our customers are already moving in,' he said. Equinix has been expanding its presence elsewhere in Southeast Asia to tap the region's growth potential, acquiring three data centres in the Philippines last year, on top of operations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. (Reporting by Ashley Tang; Editing by Martin Petty)
