Microsoft Azure Southeast Asia 3 is a new cloud region planned for Johor Bahru, Malaysia – the second Azure region in the country – serving growing ASEAN demand for sovereign cloud.
Microsoft Azure's Southeast Asia 3 region, to be located in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, is a newly announced cloud region that will expand Microsoft's already significant infrastructure footprint in Malaysia. Microsoft launched its first Malaysian Azure region in 2025, and the new Johor Bahru region – designated Southeast Asia 3 – represents the second dedicated Azure region in the country, reflecting the exceptional growth in cloud demand across Malaysia and the broader Southeast Asian market.
Johor Bahru, located at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia bordering Singapore, has emerged as one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing data centre markets. Its proximity to Singapore – the region's premier interconnection hub – combined with lower land and power costs, strong government support through Malaysia's national digital economy initiatives, and rapidly improving power and fibre infrastructure have made Johor a magnet for hyperscale data centre investment from AWS, Google, Microsoft, and a growing array of colocation and wholesale operators.
The Southeast Asia 3 region is part of Microsoft's commitment to expand cloud capacity in Asia significantly, with the company describing ongoing investments in the Indonesian region as set to make it "one of the largest regions in Asia." The Johor Bahru region will provide Malaysian organisations, government agencies, and enterprises across the ASEAN region with access to the full Azure cloud services portfolio, including AI, machine learning, compute, and storage, with the geographic redundancy and data residency benefits of a dedicated Malaysian cloud region.
