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STT GDC Secures Up to $1.37B Green Loan for 166MW Johor Data Center

By: IDCNOVARegion: Southeast Asia
ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), a leading Asia-Pacific data center operator, has secured up to $1.37 billion in green loan financing to support the development of its flagship STT Johor campus in Malaysia. The funding will underwrite the construction of the facility's first phase, which is designed to deliver 16MW of IT load and is expected to reach completion by 2027.

The financing marks a significant milestone for the Singapore-headquartered operator as it advances one of the largest data center projects in the southern Malaysian state of Johor. The STT Johor campus, spanning 22 acres within the Nusa Cemerlang Industrial Park in Iskandar Puteri, a planned city in southern Johor, represents a strategic bet on the region's rapidly growing digital infrastructure demand.

STT GDC first broke ground on the initial phase of the campus in February 2025, following the acquisition of the land from local real estate firm Crescendo Corp in November 2023. The company's plans for the Johor campus were announced shortly after the land purchase, underscoring its long-term commitment to expanding capacity in Southeast Asia's emerging data center markets.

The green loan, a debt instrument earmarked for environmentally sustainable projects, aligns with the broader industry trend toward financing infrastructure that meets rigorous environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. For STT GDC, the funding structure not only supports the physical build-out but also reinforces its positioning as a responsible operator in a sector increasingly scrutinized for its energy and sustainability footprint.

The Johor campus is part of STT GDC's wider regional expansion strategy. The company, formed as the data center arm of Singaporean telco investor ST Telemedia, was acquired by investment firm KKR and Singaporean telco Singtel in February of this year. It operates facilities across Singapore, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea, and extends its reach into Europe through Virtus Data Centres in the UK, Italy, and Germany. The company previously offered services in mainland China via GDS, in which STT holds a stake.

The development of STT Johor comes at a time when Johor has emerged as a key hub for data center investment, driven by its proximity to Singapore, available land, and supportive government policies. The 166MW campus, once fully built out, will significantly boost the region's digital capacity and position STT GDC to capture growing demand from cloud service providers and enterprises seeking reliable, scalable infrastructure.