The SEA IDC Market Size and Growth

In 2017, driven by various information policies and development of Internet industry, the IDC market in Southeast Asia has maintained steady growth, reaching US$1.96 billion, with a growth rate of 15.3%. Singapore is the leading market, followed by Malaysia and Thailand. The diminishing growth rate of Singapore market is the main reason for the slowdown of the overall SEA market growth.

IDC Market Size of SEA (2015-2017)

Data Source：IDC Nova, 2018.06

Thriving on the mature political and business environment and highly developed infrastructure, Singapore has become a key data center hub for international companies to make a significant presence in the SEA market. Many global IDC and cloud computing vendors have been operating in Singapore for a few years.

After years of development, the Singapore IDC market has entered a mature phase in which major providers are in a stable competition status. Compared with Singapore market, other markets have experienced more significant growth driven by domestic demand.  

Growth Rate of SEA Market (by country)

Data Source：IDC Nova, 2018.06

Differences of IDC Industry Policy Environment 

The SEA market has presented more differentiated features than other regional markets in the world due to the significant differences in the basic market environment, infrastructure resource environment and IDC industry policy environment across countries.

Overall, Singapore is the most developed IDC market and the government is currently focusing on data center energy consumption to promote green data centers. Malaysia has clearly targeted the development goals of its IDC industry and proposed a series of plans and incentives, and thus designated management departments have been established to fulfill the goals. Thailand has positioned the development of its data center as the core infrastructure for its digital economy, while Philippines has regarded data centers as important infrastructures for its e-government development.