Google Puts $160m Into Malaysian Water Plant for Port Dickson Campus

By Priya Raman

Google has committed $160 million to shared water infrastructure in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The money funds an off-river storage reservoir and a water treatment plant serving both local residents and Google's planned data center campus in Port Dickson. The company has not stated what share of the $160 million covers the data center's needs versus public supply.

The project partners are the state government and the water utility Syarikat Air Negeri Sembilan Sdn Bhd. Gamuda Berhad, a Malaysia-based engineering and construction firm, will carry out the construction. When complete, the plant will supply 65 million liters (17.17 million gallons) of drinking water per day for public use and the Google campus.

Why fund water that is not scarce?

Drew Byrnes, director and head of global infrastructure and energy, Asia Pacific, Google, said: "Google's decision to fund shared water infrastructure in Negeri Sembilan reflects our global ambition to replenish 120 percent of the freshwater volume we consume, even as our water risk assessment showed that local water sources were not at high risk of scarcity or depletion."

The admission is notable. Google's own assessment found no high risk of scarcity, yet the company is spending $160 million anyway. Byrnes added: "This underscores our responsibility to grow our presence sustainably—pairing advanced digital infrastructure development with water replenishment projects, power infrastructure enhancements, and programs designed to upskill local talent for new career opportunities."

No completion date for the plant appears in the announcement. No tariff or cost-recovery arrangement between Google and the utility has been disclosed.

How large is the data center it serves?

Google bought 389 acres of land in Port Dickson in May last year. Port Dickson sits roughly 90km (55.9 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur, on the banks of the Strait of Malacca. Reports put the planned data center capacity between 500MW and 1GW, with Gamuda Engineering handling engineering and infrastructure works.

Google has also committed to pay for 100 percent of the power the campus requires, on top of the direct infrastructure costs to connect it to the grid. That is a concrete commitment. What Google has not specified is the campus's projected water draw, which makes the 65-million-liter figure hard to evaluate.

For scale: 65 million liters per day is roughly the daily consumption of a mid-sized European town. The plant must serve that demand and a hyperscale campus at once.

Is this a one-off or a pattern?

It is not a one-off. Google has a second data center development in Malaysia. The hyperscaler broke ground at Elmina Business Park in Selangor in October 2024. That facility's first phase, with an expected capacity of 100MW, is slated for completion sometime this year.

Both projects fall under a wider commitment: Google pledged to invest $2 billion in Malaysia in 2024. The water plant forms one component of that envelope.

The open questions are the usual ones. No timeline for the Port Dickson campus itself. No breakdown of the $160 million. No published water-consumption forecast. Until those figures appear, the replenishment pledge remains a promise with an audit pending.