AI Boom Is Turning Malaysia’s Palm Oil Estates Into Data Centres
Published on: Nov. 19, 2025, 7:01 a.m. | Source: NDTV Profit
Malaysia’s palm oil giants, long-blamed for razing rainforests, and driving orangutans to the brink of extinction, are recasting themselves as unlikely champions in a different, potentially greener race: the quest to lure the world’s AI data centres to the Southeast Asian country. Palm oil companies are earmarking some of the vast tracts of land they own for industrial parks studded with data centres and solar panels, the latter meant to feed the insatiable energy appetites of the former.
