Sime Darby Property has 'aggressive' plan for data centre development, says MD

• Sime Darby Property group managing director Datuk Seri Azmir Merican: “We can't provide specific numbers of how the Google data centre will impact our earnings, but it represents an exciting opportunity for us.”

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 23): Sime Darby Property Bhd (KL:SIMEPROP) said on Friday that it is pursuing an "aggressive plan" for data centre development.

“We do have aggressive plans for this, in terms of leasing our land,” group managing director Datuk Seri Azmir Merican (pictured) said at an earnings briefing. “We aim to evolve into a real estate company with multiple income streams from property development, and are open to exploring new areas of growth,” he said.

In May, the property developer announced its plan to build and lease a hyperscale data centre for Google at its Elmina Business Park, marking its entry into the data centre segment. The project, valued at RM2 billion, is expected to be completed by 2026.

The Google data centre at the Elmina Business Park will support the tech giant’s digital services, including Search, Maps and Workspace. Once operational, this facility will make Malaysia one of the countries where Google has established and operates data centres, joining India, Singapore, Jakarta and Japan.

“We can't provide specific numbers of how the Google data centre will impact our earnings, but it represents an exciting opportunity for us,” said Azmir.

Currently, Sime Darby Property has five industrial park projects, with total remaining land area of over 2,000 acres.

Sime Darby Property has raised its sales target for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024) to RM3.5 billion from RM3 billion, and plans to start selling 1,855 new units from projects with a gross development value of RM1.57 billion in the second half of the year.

The new launches will primarily feature 1,287 high-rise residential units and 321 landed homes across various locations, including City of Elmina, Bandar Bukit Raja, Serenia City, KL East and Putra Heights. Also in the pipeline are 79 industrial units at the Elmina Business Park, Bandar Bukit Raja, and Nilai Impian.

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