E04 The Stakeholders Behind Every Data Centre

ByMalaysia Data Centre Observatory

Key Takeaways

  • A modern data centre is shaped by many stakeholders, each pursuing different but often legitimate objectives.
  • Most disagreements surrounding data centres arise not because stakeholders disagree on facts, but because they prioritise different outcomes.
  • Many stakeholder interests are complementary and reinforce one another, while others require careful balancing and trade-offs.
  • Understanding stakeholder objectives provides a more balanced way to interpret public debates surrounding data centre development.
  • One role of the Malaysia Data Centre Observatory (MDCO) is to help make these relationships more visible so discussions can move beyond simplistic “for or against” narratives.

Looking Beyond the Developer

When a new data centre is announced, public attention usually focuses on a single organisation—the developer or operator. Its name appears in media reports, its executives attend investment announcements, and its logo is often the one displayed on project signboards.

It is therefore understandable that many people assume the developer alone determines how the project is designed, where it is built, and how it will affect the surrounding community.

In reality, a modern data centre is shaped by a much larger ecosystem of stakeholders.

Long before construction begins, customers create demand for computing capacity. Investors decide whether to finance the project. Governments establish national digital strategies. Utility providers determine whether sufficient electricity, water and telecommunications infrastructure can be supplied. Consultants translate diverse requirements into practical designs, while regulators ensure developments comply with planning, environmental and safety requirements. Once operational, operators, maintenance teams, utility providers, customers and local communities continue to influence how the facility performs over the following decades.

Each stakeholder enters the project with different responsibilities, different incentives and different measures of success. None possesses complete control, yet each influences the final outcome.

Understanding these relationships helps explain why data centres are designed the way they are, why certain impacts occur, and why public discussions can sometimes become polarised despite all parties acting in good faith.

Rather than viewing a data centre simply as a building constructed by a developer, it is often more useful to see it as the product of continuous interaction between many organisations, each attempting to optimise a different part of the same system.

MDCO Insight: A data centre is shaped not by one organisation, but by the combined decisions of many stakeholders with different responsibilities and objectives.

A Shared Goal, Different Priorities

Public discussions sometimes portray stakeholder groups as being fundamentally opposed to one another. Developers are assumed to prioritise profit, communities are assumed to oppose development, while regulators are expected to referee the conflict.

Reality is usually more nuanced.

Most stakeholders ultimately seek many of the same broad outcomes. They want reliable infrastructure, sustainable economic development, safe communities, resilient public services, environmental protection and long-term prosperity.

Where they differ is not necessarily in their objectives, but in how they prioritise them.

A cloud service provider may place uninterrupted service above almost everything else because millions of users depend upon its platforms. A local resident may naturally place greater importance on noise, traffic and neighbourhood amenity because those impacts are experienced every day. An electricity utility focuses on maintaining a stable power grid for all users, while government agencies may need to balance economic development with environmental protection and public welfare.

None of these priorities is inherently unreasonable. They simply reflect different responsibilities within the same system.

Recognising this distinction changes the way public debates are understood. Rather than asking which stakeholder is “right”, it often becomes more productive to understand why different stakeholders legitimately view the same project from different perspectives.

Many disagreements surrounding data centres are therefore not disputes over facts, but discussions about which objectives deserve greater weight when trade-offs become necessary.

MDCO Insight: Stakeholders often share the same destination, but differ on which route offers the best balance of benefits, costs and risks.

The Customer: The Invisible Stakeholder

One of the most influential stakeholders in any data centre project is also one of the least visible.

Without customers, there would be little reason to build new data centres.

Cloud computing providers, banks, telecommunications companies, healthcare organisations, government agencies, universities, artificial intelligence developers and thousands of other organisations all rely on data centres to deliver digital services. As demand for these services grows, so too does the need for additional computing capacity.

These customers also influence how data centres are designed.

A financial institution processing millions of transactions each day may require extremely high levels of reliability and cybersecurity. An artificial intelligence company may require enormous electrical capacity to support high-performance computing. Government agencies may require additional security controls or compliance with specific standards.

These expectations shape many of the design features commonly associated with modern data centres.

Backup generators exist because customers expect services to remain available during power outages. Redundant electrical systems reduce the likelihood of service interruption. Multiple fibre-optic routes improve communications resilience. Extensive physical security measures help protect customer information and critical infrastructure.

Many of these features also create wider implications. Greater reliability often requires additional infrastructure, which can increase costs, land requirements, equipment noise and energy consumption. These are not simply engineering choices; they are responses to customer expectations regarding reliability and resilience.

In this way, customers influence many aspects of a data centre long before construction begins, even though they may never appear in public announcements or planning documents.

MDCO Insight: Many of the systems visible in a data centre exist because customers demand uninterrupted digital services rather than because developers simply choose to build them.

Developers and Operators: Balancing Competing Objectives

Developers are often the most visible stakeholder, but their role extends far beyond constructing buildings.

They sit at the centre of a complex network of expectations.

Customers seek reliability and security. Investors expect financially sustainable projects. Regulators require compliance with laws and standards. Utility providers impose technical constraints. Communities expect responsible environmental management, while operators need facilities that can be maintained efficiently over several decades.

These expectations do not always align perfectly.

Improving reliability may require additional backup equipment that increases project costs. Reducing water consumption may increase electricity use. Expanding acoustic mitigation may improve community outcomes while affecting construction budgets or site layouts. Faster project delivery may reduce development costs but leave less time for stakeholder engagement.

Developers therefore spend much of the project balancing competing objectives rather than pursuing a single goal.

Once a facility begins operating, operators inherit many of these same responsibilities. They must continue balancing reliability, efficiency, sustainability, maintenance, customer requirements and community expectations throughout the life of the facility.

Success is therefore measured not simply by whether a data centre is built, but by how effectively these competing objectives continue to be managed over time.

MDCO Insight: Developers and operators are often less concerned with maximising a single objective than with balancing many objectives simultaneously.

Governments and Regulators: Balancing Public Interests

Government is frequently viewed only through its regulatory role, yet its responsibilities are considerably broader.

Governments may seek to attract investment, strengthen national digital infrastructure, create skilled employment and position Malaysia as a regional hub for cloud computing and artificial intelligence. At the same time, they remain responsible for protecting public health, environmental quality, infrastructure resilience and community wellbeing.

These objectives can sometimes reinforce one another, but they can also compete.

Encouraging digital investment may increase demands on electricity infrastructure. Supporting rapid development may create additional pressure on planning authorities and utility providers. Strengthening environmental safeguards may increase project costs while improving long-term sustainability.

Regulators operate within this broader policy environment.

Planning authorities consider land use compatibility. Environmental agencies focus on environmental protection. Fire authorities assess life safety. Occupational safety regulators protect workers. Energy and telecommunications regulators oversee critical infrastructure systems.

Each regulator examines only part of the overall system, reflecting the specialised responsibilities assigned to different institutions.

Understanding these roles helps explain why modern data centres are subject to numerous approvals and technical requirements. Rather than representing unnecessary bureaucracy, they are intended to ensure that different aspects of the public interest are considered before and throughout a project’s operation.

MDCO Insight: Governments seek to balance national development with public interest, while regulators focus on protecting specific aspects of that public interest.

Utilities: The Stakeholders Behind the Scenes

Utility providers rarely feature in media coverage, yet they exert significant influence over whether and how a data centre can be developed.

Electricity, water and telecommunications infrastructure form the foundation upon which every modern data centre depends. Without sufficient utility capacity, even the most attractive development site may not be technically viable.

Electricity providers must ensure that new demand can be accommodated without compromising the reliability of the wider power system. Water utilities assess whether adequate supply can be maintained while meeting the needs of other users. Telecommunications providers determine how facilities connect to domestic and international fibre-optic networks.

These organisations therefore balance two responsibilities simultaneously.

On one hand, they support national development by enabling new investment and digital infrastructure. On the other, they must maintain reliable services for existing customers while ensuring that infrastructure expansion remains technically and economically sustainable.

Utility constraints often shape project outcomes long before construction begins. The availability of transmission capacity, substations, water supply or telecommunications connectivity can influence project location, scale and timing.

For this reason, utility providers are not simply service suppliers. They are important stakeholders whose decisions help determine what is possible.

MDCO Insight: A project may receive planning approval, but its ultimate scale and timing are often shaped by the capacity of the infrastructure that supports it.

Local Communities: More Than a Single Voice

Public discussions often describe “the community” as though it speaks with one voice. In practice, communities are usually as diverse as the projects proposed within them.

Residents may prioritise peace and quiet, traffic conditions or neighbourhood character. Local businesses may welcome new economic activity and employment opportunities. Property owners may have different perspectives from tenants. Schools, healthcare facilities and community organisations may each consider different aspects of a project’s potential impacts.

Even among nearby residents, priorities can differ considerably. Some may focus on environmental protection, while others place greater importance on economic opportunities or improved infrastructure.

Recognising this diversity is important because it avoids presenting community views as uniformly supportive or uniformly opposed to development.

Communities also contribute valuable local knowledge that may not be apparent during technical studies. Residents often possess long-term understanding of local traffic patterns, drainage conditions, flooding history, environmental sensitivities and neighbourhood concerns. When incorporated constructively, this knowledge can improve project outcomes.

Understanding community perspectives therefore extends beyond consultation alone. It is part of understanding how large infrastructure projects interact with the places and people that host them.

MDCO Insight: Communities are not a single stakeholder but a collection of individuals and organisations with diverse experiences, priorities and expectations.

Investors and Financiers: Looking Beyond Construction

Modern data centres require substantial long-term investment. A single hyperscale facility may involve hundreds of millions or even billions of ringgit in capital expenditure before it begins serving customers.

Investors therefore become important stakeholders long before construction begins.

Their objective is often misunderstood as simply maximising short-term financial returns. In reality, long-term infrastructure investors typically seek stable, predictable and sustainable returns over many years. This means they value projects that can operate reliably, adapt to changing technologies and maintain good relationships with regulators, customers and local communities.

From an investment perspective, technical reliability is only one aspect of project success. Regulatory uncertainty, prolonged disputes, infrastructure constraints and community opposition can all increase project risks and affect long-term performance.

This creates an important alignment of interests. Measures that improve operational resilience, strengthen environmental performance or build community trust may also reduce investment risk over the life of the project.

For this reason, investors increasingly pay attention not only to financial performance but also to governance, sustainability and long-term operational resilience.

MDCO Insight: Long-term investors are often interested in reducing risk as much as increasing returns.

Consultants, Contractors and Specialists: Turning Objectives into Reality

Between broad ambitions and completed infrastructure lies another important group of stakeholders that often receives little public attention.

Engineers, architects, planners, environmental consultants, acoustic specialists, traffic consultants, fire engineers, quantity surveyors and many other professionals translate competing objectives into practical designs and workable solutions.

Their task is rarely straightforward.

Customers may require higher reliability. Communities may seek lower noise levels. Utility providers impose technical requirements. Regulators require compliance with legislation and standards. Developers seek projects that remain commercially viable.

Meeting one objective may affect another.

For example, additional acoustic barriers may reduce noise but require more land. A cooling technology that reduces water consumption may increase electricity demand. Higher redundancy can improve reliability while increasing equipment costs and physical footprint.

Rather than searching for perfect solutions, specialist teams usually seek the most appropriate balance under the specific conditions of each project.

Construction contractors then transform these designs into physical infrastructure while managing safety, quality, programme, cost and coordination among numerous trades.

Although they may not determine the project’s overall objectives, consultants and contractors play an essential role in determining how effectively those objectives are achieved.

MDCO Insight: Many trade-offs associated with a data centre are resolved not through public debate, but through thousands of engineering and design decisions.

Standards Organisations and Industry Bodies: Setting Expectations

Not every stakeholder is directly involved in building or operating a data centre.

International standards organisations and industry bodies also influence how facilities are designed, managed and evaluated.

Technical standards developed by organisations such as the Uptime Institute, ISO, ASHRAE, TIA, NFPA and The Green Grid provide common frameworks for reliability, safety, environmental performance and operational management.

Most of these organisations do not regulate projects or grant approvals.

Instead, they establish shared expectations that customers, investors, consultants, insurers and operators often choose to adopt.

A multinational cloud provider, for example, may require a facility to meet particular reliability standards regardless of local regulatory requirements. Investors may expect recognised environmental management systems, while insurers may assess projects against established fire protection practices.

These voluntary frameworks often become influential because they create confidence across the global digital infrastructure industry.

In this way, industry standards form another layer of influence, sitting alongside government regulation and commercial requirements.

MDCO Insight: Many of the most influential expectations affecting data centres originate from international standards rather than legislation.

Where Interests Align

Public discussion often focuses on conflicts surrounding data centres, yet many stakeholder interests naturally reinforce one another.

Improving energy efficiency can reduce operating costs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Effective noise mitigation may improve relationships with neighbouring communities while reducing operational complaints and reputational risks.

High-quality engineering can improve reliability, reduce maintenance costs and enhance long-term sustainability simultaneously.

Meaningful stakeholder engagement may require additional effort during project development, but it can improve trust, reduce misunderstandings and lower the likelihood of future disputes.

These examples illustrate that investments benefiting one stakeholder frequently generate benefits for others as well.

Recognising these synergies encourages discussion about shared opportunities rather than viewing every issue as a conflict between competing interests.

MDCO Insight: Many initiatives that benefit communities, operators and investors simultaneously are investments in long-term resilience rather than additional costs.

Where Tensions Arise

Not all interests align.

Modern data centres operate within systems where competing objectives must continually be balanced.

Higher reliability often requires additional backup infrastructure, increasing equipment, land requirements and potential environmental impacts.

Greater physical security may reduce transparency and public access to information.

Faster project delivery may reduce development costs but provide less time for consultation or design refinement.

Cooling technologies that minimise water consumption may require more electricity, while those that reduce electricity demand may consume more water.

National ambitions to strengthen digital infrastructure may increase pressure on local electricity networks or other public infrastructure.

These tensions do not necessarily indicate that one stakeholder is right and another is wrong. More often, they reflect the reality that complex infrastructure projects involve choices between legitimate but competing objectives.

Understanding these trade-offs allows discussions to move beyond assigning blame towards exploring how different objectives can be balanced more effectively.

MDCO Insight: Most debates surrounding data centres are discussions about balancing legitimate objectives rather than choosing between good and bad outcomes.

The Observatory Perspective

Modern data centres are not shaped by a single organisation or a single decision.

They emerge from the interaction of customers seeking reliable digital services, investors allocating long-term capital, developers balancing commercial and technical considerations, governments pursuing national development, regulators protecting the public interest, utilities managing critical infrastructure, consultants translating competing requirements into practical solutions, operators maintaining reliable services, and communities living alongside these facilities.

Each stakeholder sees only part of the overall picture.

Customers experience the digital services that data centres enable. Communities experience their physical presence. Governments consider national competitiveness. Utilities focus on infrastructure resilience. Investors assess long-term risks and returns. Engineers work to reconcile these perspectives within practical technical constraints.

Understanding these different viewpoints does not eliminate disagreement, nor should it. Different stakeholders will continue to assign different priorities to the same objectives.

The value of understanding lies elsewhere.

When stakeholder objectives become more visible, discussions become more informed, trade-offs become clearer, and opportunities for better outcomes become easier to identify.

This is one of the roles of the Malaysia Data Centre Observatory (MDCO): to provide a balanced, systems-level perspective that helps stakeholders understand not only their own interests, but also the legitimate interests of others.

MDCO Insight: Better decisions become possible when stakeholders understand not only what others want, but why they want it.

Selected References

Data Centre Standards and Industry Guidance

  • Uptime Institute – Tier Standards and operational resilience. https://uptimeinstitute.com
  • International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – Data centre facilities and infrastructure (ISO/IEC 22237 series). https://www.iso.org
  • Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) – Telecommunications infrastructure standards for data centres (ANSI/TIA-942). https://tiaonline.org
  • ASHRAE – Thermal management and environmental guidance for IT equipment. https://www.ashrae.org

Infrastructure Governance and Public Policy

  • International Energy Agency (IEA) – Research on electricity demand, digital infrastructure and data centres. https://www.iea.org
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – Infrastructure governance and public policy frameworks. https://www.oecd.org
  • World Bank – Infrastructure governance, sustainable development and institutional frameworks. https://www.worldbank.org

Malaysia Regulatory Context

  • Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172)
  • Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Act 127)
  • Electricity Supply Act 1990 (Act 447)
  • Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514)
  • Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (Act 588)

Relevant regulatory authorities include:

Citation

Malaysia Data Centre Observatory (MDCO). The Stakeholders Behind Every Data Centre. MDCO Explain Series No. E04 (Version 1.0, July 2026).

MDCO Note

This article forms part of the Malaysia Data Centre Observatory (MDCO) Explain Series, which aims to improve public understanding of data centre development through evidence-based, accessible and balanced analysis. It is intended for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, engineering, planning, environmental or professional advice.

Malaysia’s rapidly evolving data centre ecosystem includes facilities developed, owned or operated by organisations such as AirTrunk, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bridge Data Centres, DayOne, EdgeConneX, Google, K2 Data Centres, Microsoft, NTT Global Data Centers, Princeton Digital Group (PDG), ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), STACK Infrastructure, Vantage Data Centers, YTL Data Centre Park and many others. MDCO is independent of these organisations, as well as governments, regulators, utilities and advocacy groups. Its role is to facilitate transparency, structured understanding and equal access to information by presenting publicly verifiable evidence, relevant context and multiple stakeholder perspectives. MDCO does not endorse, oppose or advocate for any particular organisation, project or policy position.

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