--- title: "Google commits $15 billion to Malaysian data centers after Texas and Ohio voters backed buildout pauses" description: "Google committed $15 billion to Malaysian data centers on Wednesday, two days after a palm-oil company sold its Selangor estate for RM934 million and a day after voters in Texas and Ohio chose governors who campaigned on pausing the buildout." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Data Center" published: 2026-11-04T16:15:21.397Z modified: 2026-11-04T16:15:21.397Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/google-commits-15-billion-to-malaysian-data-centers-after-texas-and-ohio-voters-backed-buildout-pauses language: en keywords: "Google, Alphabet, Data Centers, Malaysia, Capital Expenditure, Political Risk" --- # Google commits $15 billion to Malaysian data centers after Texas and Ohio voters backed buildout pauses > Google committed $15 billion to Malaysian data centers on Wednesday, two days after a palm-oil company sold its Selangor estate for RM934 million and a day after voters in Texas and Ohio chose governors who campaigned on pausing the buildout. Google said on Wednesday [it will spend $15 billion on data-center campuses in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-04/google-to-spend-15-billion-in-malaysia-data-center-expansion), more than a gigawatt of new clean energy and $160 million of shared water infrastructure, across 2027 and 2028 [1][2]. Two days earlier, SD Guthrie agreed to sell its Bukit Kerayong palm-oil freehold to a data-center-linked venture, and on Tuesday Texas and Ohio elected governors who campaigned on pausing data centers [3][4][5]. The labs are buying capacity where the rules are still friendly, and the ground under it is palm-oil estate. ## Palm oil is being repriced as compute land The ground truth landed on Monday. SD Guthrie, a Malaysian plantation company, [agreed to sell 16 hectares of its Bukit Kerayong freehold in Selangor for RM934 million](https://themalaysianreserve.com/2026/11/02/sd-guthrie-unlocks-land-value/) to a joint venture with YTL Power and Bumi Assets, a 5% premium to valuation, against a net book value of RM60 million and RM3.1 million of profit last year [5]. MBSB Research reckons the site could theoretically hold up to 4 gigawatts of data-center capacity, an analyst scenario rather than an approved campus [5]. But the direction is real: [Alibaba](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/alibaba), [Oracle](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/oracle), [Amazon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amazon) and [ByteDance](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bytedance) are all building in the same country [1]. ## The same megawatts are now contested twice [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia) [has reportedly told cloud partners that new contracts must send at least 51% of capacity to non-Chinese customers](https://thenextweb.com/news/nvidia-cloud-partners-cap-china-business), narrowing the rental route Chinese firms have used to reach its chips through hubs like Malaysia, per the Financial Times [6]. The instruction was passed verbally, it covers only new contracts, and Nvidia would not confirm it, so enforcement is untested [6]. If it holds, Malaysian land and power become export-compliant capacity that two sets of buyers want at once. ## Alphabet can fund speed cheaper than anyone [Alphabet](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/alphabet) can fund this cheaper than anyone. A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point, and mid-swaps is the benchmark those spreads are measured against: on Monday Alphabet [priced a six-year euro bond 90 basis points over mid-swaps](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-04/meta-starts-debut-euro-bond-sale-after-15-billion-dollar-deal), while [Meta](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/meta) paid 140 on a similar maturity for its debut euro sale, and investors now charge all the hyperscalers, the biggest cloud operators, spreads closer to lower-rated borrowers [7]. Cheaper debt lowers the carrying cost of every month a campus takes to build, so it buys speed. ## Georgia's new governor now sits over Alphabet's power deal The election reaches Alphabet directly. In September, Georgia Power and Google [agreed a deal supporting nuclear uprates at the Vogtle and Hatch plants](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/google-helping-upgrade-southern-nuclear-184432017.html), roughly 96 megawatts of extra output with about $900 million of projected customer benefits, subject to regulatory approval [8]. That approval now sits with a utilities commission under a new Democratic governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Reuters found no reported data-center platform from Bottoms, and rates Georgia's risk as a rule rewrite rather than a freeze, but Alphabet's own fastest route to firm power now waits on a regulator her administration shapes [4][8]. US shareholders now own political risk in two countries; Malaysian landowners collect the premium. What decides it: [whether Ohio's 2027 push to constitutionally ban data centers above 25 megawatts advances](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/texas-ohio-georgia-data-center-131624214.html), whether the Georgia Power filing survives the new commission, and whether Bukit Kerayong turns from an analyst's 4 GW sketch into an approved campus [4][5]. *Chart: **Alphabet paid 50 basis points less than Meta on same-week euro bonds** Bar chart comparing euro bond spreads: Alphabet 90 bps (6-year) vs Meta 140 bps (6.26-year); Alphabet 185 bps (19-year) vs Meta 268 bps (18-year)* *Spread over mid-swaps, basis points, at pricing on November 2-4, 2026. Sources: Bloomberg [7]. [7]* ## Takeaway Google is buying compute capacity where the political ground is still friendly: $15 billion in Malaysia two days after voters in Texas and Ohio backed buildout pauses, funded at the cheapest spreads in the sector. ## Sources 1. [Bloomberg, Google to Spend $15 Billion in Malaysia Data Center Expansion, 4 November 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-04/google-to-spend-15-billion-in-malaysia-data-center-expansion) 2. [Semi Doped, Daily Update - November 4th 2026, 4 November 2026](https://daily.semidoped.com/p/daily-update-november-4th-2026) 3. [CNBC, SpaceX, Tesla fall around 4% on Democrats' big win; AI stocks mixed, 4 November 2026](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/ai-stocks-texas-governor-data-centers.html) 4. [Yahoo Finance/Investing.com, Texas, Ohio and Georgia data center risks after Democratic election wins, 4 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/texas-ohio-georgia-data-center-131624214.html) 5. [The Malaysian Reserve, SD Guthrie unlocks land value, 2 November 2026](https://themalaysianreserve.com/2026/11/02/sd-guthrie-unlocks-land-value/) 6. [The Next Web, Nvidia tells cloud partners to cap Chinese business at 49%, FT reports, 3 November 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/nvidia-cloud-partners-cap-china-business) 7. [Bloomberg, Meta Gets Record €53 Billion of Orders for Debut Euro Bonds, 4 November 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-04/meta-starts-debut-euro-bond-sale-after-15-billion-dollar-deal) 8. [Yahoo Finance/Insider Monkey, Google Is Helping Upgrade Southern's Nuclear Plants. Can 96 MW Ease Its AI Power Bottleneck?, 23 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/google-helping-upgrade-southern-nuclear-184432017.html) --- Google commits $15 billion to Malaysian data centers after Texas and Ohio voters backed buildout pauses — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/google-commits-15-billion-to-malaysian-data-centers-after-texas-and-ohio-voters-backed-buildout-pauses