AI infrastructure emerges as Southeast Asia's new growth engine
Data centres have accelerated in growth throughout Southeast Asia. Much of the region’s recent data centre growth has shifted towards Malaysia; Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are also building capacity.
The AI story is not just a technology story, but also an economic growth one, Edmund Leong, head of group corporate banking and sector solutions group and Investment Banking at the United Overseas Bank (UOB) said at the recent ASEAN Conference 2026, organised by the Singapore Business Federation.
As reported by The Business Times, a Singaporean news source, Leong said data centres have accelerated in growth throughout Southeast Asia. Much of the region’s recent data centre growth has shifted towards Malaysia; Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are also building capacity, he noted.
Leong said that Southeast Asia must overcome two bottlenecks to allow AI infrastructure deployment to flourish.
One of these is power. The region, he noted, will need to invest more in renewable energy and grid infrastructure to enable its data centre growth to accelerate.
The other constraint is semiconductor supply. “There is currently a shortage of semiconductor and memory chips,” he said as quoted by the site, noting that strong demand continues to outpace manufacturing capacity.
He said he believes that when there is tremendous demand for certain things, it will also lead to supply coming through. As those constraints ease, AI infrastructure should become more affordable for enterprises, supporting wider adoption across the economy./.
