Malaysian billionaire Francis Yeoh bets $10.5 billion on gas power for the AI data center rush

Malaysian billionaire Francis Yeoh's YTL Power International is developing more than 5.2 gigawatts of gas-fired power plants across Southeast Asia, a buildout analysts estimate will cost more than $10.5 billion, as artificial intelligence data centers push the region's electricity demand to records.

The scale became clear on Sept. 15, when YTL Power and its partner Ganda Power signed reservation agreements with Germany's Siemens Energy for four more SGT-9000HL gas turbines, bringing their total to seven. The units will support projects in Malaysia and the wider region with a combined capacity of more than 5,250 megawatts, the company said. It has not disclosed the investment.

The plants are planned for Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Once complete, YTL's installed generation capacity would rise to nearly 11 gigawatts. CGS International Research estimates a four-year build, putting commissioning in the second half of 2030 or early 2031, and argues that securing turbines has become the decisive edge in winning new plant awards because global supply is tight and lead times are long.

"Energy is the foundation of the artificial intelligence economy," said Yeoh Seok Hong, YTL Power's managing director and Francis Yeoh's brother. He said the group is combining its generation experience with its expanding data center and AI capabilities to build the infrastructure its customers will need.

The demand is already showing up on Malaysia's grid. Data centers accounted for a record 9.3% of the country's electricity consumption in the second week of August, up from an average of 7% this year, according to the Energy Commission, and their share could reach 31% of peninsular demand by 2035. Economy Minister Akmal Nasir said this month the country needs another 9 gigawatts of gas-fired capacity by 2032 as data centers expand and coal is phased out. Global operators keep arriving: AirTrunk recently committed $3 billion to two data centers with 280 megawatts of capacity.

YTL is on both sides of that trade. It is doubling its own data center capacity to 2.4 gigawatts, runs Nvidia-based computing through YTL AI Cloud, and has built ILMU, a Malaysian large language model, through YTL AI Labs. The group also launched a digital bank, Ryt Bank. Selling power to its own data centers and to rivals gives it a hedge that pure-play operators lack.

Yeoh, 72, has run the family conglomerate since 1988, when he succeeded his father, founder Yeoh Tiong Lay. YTL Corp. now spans utilities, cement, property, hotels and digital infrastructure, with regulated assets including Wessex Water in Britain. Forbes puts the combined fortune of Yeoh and his siblings at $4.1 billion, ranking them Malaysia's ninth-richest family.

HLIB Research kept a buy rating on YTL Power with a target of RM7.58 ($1.80) a share, citing data center expansion, higher Wessex Water tariffs and the new turbines as drivers of earnings growth.