Maybank Investment Bank is optimistic about the growth of data centers in ASEAN and sees good opportunities in the region’s data center supply chain.
In a note on Friday, the research team said that looking at how much global cloud companies are spending and what their leaders are saying shows that AI and cloud growth are not likely to slow down. This helps ease worries about a possible slowdown.
Maybank said that since the beginning of the year, U.S. restrictions on advanced chip exports, new tariffs, and economic concerns have made people question whether the strong growth of data centers in ASEAN can continue.
However, Maybank believes that individual countries might still make deals with the U.S. to get advanced chips, which could help solve supply problems.
The U.S. may ease the rules for selling Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to the UAE. Former President Trump might also announce the beginning of a chip deal between the two countries during his upcoming visit to the Gulf.
Maybank said that if the U.S. eases export rules for the UAE, it could open the door for similar deals and fewer restrictions for ASEAN countries in the future.
Right now, countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are listed as Tier 2 under the U.S. rules for sharing AI or exporting chips. This means they face strict rules and need special licenses to get advanced chips, similar to the UAE.
Maybank said that the current chip quota rules starting from May 15 should be enough for the data center plans already announced in ASEAN. However, if the U.S. becomes more flexible with country-specific deals, it could encourage more future investment from big tech companies and regional players.
“We believe ASEAN DC infrastructure remains under-penetrated and can punch above its weight,” said the research house.
In the March quarter, big tech companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft reported cloud and AI earnings that met or beat expectations. However, AWS fell short by 5%.
Even with economic and tariff concerns, all the companies kept their high spending plans for AI and data centers. Meta even raised its data center budget from $60–$65 billion to $64–$72 billion, and Oracle said it will double its spending from the 2024 to 2025 financial year.
The research firm said that cloud service providers (CSPs) do not plan to reduce their spending on data centers in 2025 because their cloud revenues are staying strong or even doing better than expected.
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