> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.sotkn.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # RM30 Billion Lent: Who Gets Paid While Malaysia's Data Centres Wait to Plug In - URL: https://www.sotkn.com/markets/malaysia/malaysia-dayone-financing-substation-october-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-13T08:14:55.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T08:14:55.000Z - Description: Money is not what holds Malaysia's data centres back. Seven banks just doubled DayOne's Johor loans to RM30 billion, and the halls it is building are 99% booked. What sets the pace is the plug: the 275,000-volt stations that take about 11 months to build. - Author: Sean - Tags: #market-malaysia, Markets *Money is not what holds Malaysia's data centres back. On 13 October seven banks doubled DayOne's Johor loan platform to RM30 billion. The halls it is building are 99% booked by customers. A day earlier, two Bursa builders won RM341 million of power work for data centres. What sets the pace is the plug: the high-voltage station that lets a finished hall draw power. Builders and banks are paid first. The hookup decides when the halls start paying.* **MALAYSIA PULSE** · AI DATA CENTERS · Data as at 13 Oct 2026 · Next update: DayOne's Nasdaq price range, date not set **Affects:** [AI Data Centers](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/ai-data-centers/) · [Hyperscalers](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/hyperscalers/) — Markets: [Malaysia](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/malaysia/) · [Singapore](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/singapore/) · [Australia](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/australia/) · [US](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/us/) **In short:** Between 5 and 13 October, Malaysia's data centre build showed where its money goes. DayOne, the biggest builder in Johor, filed to list on Nasdaq: 789 MW running in Johor, 616 MW being built there, and 99.3% of everything it is building already booked. Seven banks then lifted its Johor loans from RM15 billion to RM30 billion. MN Holdings won RM293.88 million to build two 275,000-volt landing stations for one data centre, due in August 2027\. Kinergy won RM47.5 million of electrical work at a Port Dickson campus. Banks and power builders are paid first. The stuck step is the high-voltage hookup. Map of who gets paid — not a buy list. Education only, not advice to buy or sell any security. Company figures are as filed or reported. A booked megawatt is not a running hall. Our own sums are labelled. ### The numbers that matter this week DayOne Johor loan platform RM30B Doubled from RM15B · seven banks · 13 Oct Reported DayOne Johor, running and billing 789 MW Plus 616 MW being built there Primary Capacity being built, already booked 99.3% Of 1,328 MW under construction, all markets Primary MN Holdings, two 275kV stations RM293.88M Sep 2026 to Aug 2027 · one data centre Primary DayOne's largest customer 69.2% Share of revenue, first half of 2026 Primary The high-voltage hookup \~11 months To build one site's landing stations Stuck step Figures from DayOne's Form F-1 of 5 October, the lenders' statement of 13 October, and MN Holdings' Bursa filing of 12 October 2026\. Status chips are Second Order’s read. **On this page:** [Why it matters](#why-it-matters) · [What changed](#what-changed) · [DayOne’s filing](#dayone) · [The loan](#the-loan) · [Who builds the plug](#the-plug) · [Our math](#our-math) · [Who gets paid](#money-goes) · [What is stuck?](#still-stuck) · [Dates next](#dates) · [What would change this](#change-view) · [FAQ](#faq) ## Why does a substation decide when Malaysia's data centres get paid? Because a data hall earns nothing until power flows into it. A customer signs. The owner buys land, puts up the building and fills it with cooling and electrical gear. But the hall only starts to bill when the customer's computers switch on, and they only switch on when the power company's line is connected. That last link is a high-voltage station, built on the customer's side of the fence, where Tenaga Nasional's 275,000-volt line lands. This morning our [Australia Pulse](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/australia/australia-ai-data-centre-funding-october-2026/) found that money had become the bind there: rates went up and a big float was pulled. Malaysia this week looks like the opposite. Banks are queueing to lend. Customers have already booked. The thing that still takes a fixed amount of time is building the plug. For why spending runs so far ahead of income, see [cash capex, explained](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/cash-capex-explained/). On 10 October our [Malaysia power-use Pulse](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/malaysia/malaysia-data-centre-power-use-october-2026/) showed Tenaga Nasional had 5.65 GW of data centre demand booked on its system in June, against 1.26 GW actually used. That gap is mostly halls waiting for computers to arrive. This Pulse looks one step earlier: the halls that are still waiting for the plug itself. 1 · Customers book **Who:** Clouds and big tech firms **Paid:** DayOne Johor: 1,398 MW booked Demand 2 · Banks lend **Who:** Local and global banks **Paid:** RM30B lined up for Johor Paid first 3 · The plug is built **Who:** 275kV stations, switchgear, cables **Paid:** About 11 months per site Stuck step 4 · Halls bill **Who:** Hall owners, then shareholders **Paid:** DayOne Johor: 789 MW billing Paid later ## What changed between 5 and 13 October? Four filings and statements, in eight days. - **5 October — DayOne opened its books.** It filed to list on Nasdaq under the ticker DODC, with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities and Citigroup as underwriters. How many shares and at what price were not set. The filing is the first public look at the biggest builder in Johor. - **12 October — a 275kV job.** MN Holdings said its unit MN Power Transmission had accepted a RM293.88 million award to build two 275,000-volt consumer landing stations for one data centre in the central region of Peninsular Malaysia. Work started in September 2026 and should finish in August 2027\. The customer was not named. - **12 October — the wiring inside.** Kinergy Advancement said Gamuda Engineering, part of Gamuda, had given it a RM47.5 million subcontract for electrical works at a hyperscale data centre in Bandar Spring Hill, Port Dickson, built for a multinational technology company based in the United States. It should be done in the first quarter of 2028. - **13 October — the loan doubled.** Seven banks said they had arranged another RM15 billion of financing for DayOne's Johor platform, taking it to RM30 billion. None of these is a new campus announcement with a ribbon. Together they show the order in which money moves through a build: lenders commit, power builders win work, and the owner waits for halls to switch on. That order is what decides who gets paid. ## What does DayOne's filing show about Johor? ![Chart of DayOne's Johor megawatts: 789 MW in service, 616 MW under construction, 208 MW of powered land, 1,398 MW booked](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/10/cd10e222-131f-4ba4-b4a9-ca4214e8c12d/content/images/2026/10/malaysia-dayone-financing-substation-october-2026-print.png) 789 MW running. 616 MW being built. All of it booked. · Education only. DayOne is a Singapore-based builder that started in 2022\. Johor is most of its business. At 20 September 2026 it had 962 MW of capacity in service across all its markets, and 789 MW of that was in Johor, at two campuses in Nusajaya Tech Park and Kempas Tech Park. Every one of those 789 MW is billing. Malaysia brought in 87.0% of its revenue in the first half of 2026\. For how this kind of landlord differs from a cloud company building its own halls, see [hyperscale versus colocation](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/hyperscale-vs-colocation-data-center/). What matters more is what comes next. In Johor DayOne has 616 MW under construction and 609 MW of signed backlog, so almost every megawatt being built already has a customer. Across all its markets, 1,328 MW is under construction and 99.3% of it is committed. It has about 2.3 GW booked in total, mostly from seven global cloud and technology customers, on contracts that usually run 10 to 15 years. A further 1,320 MW of powered land sits in the Kuala Lumpur area, with 128 MW being built there. DayOne in Johor, at 20 Sep 2026 Capacity in service789 MW · all billing Under construction616 MW Secured powered land208 MW Signed backlog609 MW Total bookings1,398 MW DayOne, the whole company Revenue, first half 2026US$512.0M · US$151.5M a year earlier Net loss, first half 2026US$77.2M Build spending, first half 2026US$3.11B Total debt at 30 Jun 2026US$4.9B · incl. finance leases Largest customer's share69.2% · second largest 15.1% The filing is frank about the risks. DayOne has made a loss every year since it started. Most of its debt has a floating rate. Its largest customer, which it describes as a global technology company with a leading short-form video platform, brought in 69.2% of revenue in the first half. And it says plainly that connecting to the grid can mean building substations on site or off site, and getting permission to run lines across other people's land, any of which can delay a hall. DayOne also says it can deliver a hall within about 12 months, citing the research firm Structure Research. Hold that number. The landing stations MN Holdings is building take about 11 months on their own. A hall that goes up in a year is only as fast as its plug. ## What did the seven banks lend, and why does it matter? The new money is RM15 billion, about US$3.7 billion. It comes in two parts: a US$2.4 billion term loan booked outside Malaysia, and a RM5.5 billion Murabahah facility, a loan that follows Islamic finance rules. The lenders are CIMB, Crédit Agricole CIB, DBS, Maybank, OCBC, Standard Chartered and UOB, acting together as lead arrangers. Added to the RM15 billion arranged in 2025, the Johor financing platform now stands at RM30 billion. - **Local and regional banks are in.** Two of Malaysia's biggest banks and all three big Singapore banks sit alongside two global lenders. That spreads the loan across the region's balance sheets. - **It came before the listing.** The loan was lined up a week after the Nasdaq filing and before any share price was set. The build does not wait for public investors. - **It is for Johor.** The statement ties the money to DayOne's Johor platform, not its sites in Finland, Thailand or Indonesia. - **Owners raised shares too.** The filing shows US$1.9 billion raised from early preferred shares to the end of 2025, then US$1.3 billion in 2025 and US$3.2 billion in 2026 from its later funding round. Compare that with Australia this week, where a US$5 billion float was pulled and the central bank raised rates. In Johor, the money for halls that are already booked is easy to find. That is why the loan is not the stuck step here. It is the fuel. What it buys still has to be built in a fixed order, and the plug comes before the first bill. ## Who builds the plug, and how long does it take? MN Holdings is a Bursa-listed builder of power lines, substations and other utility works. Its new job is two 275,000-volt consumer landing stations, both for one data centre. The customer, described only as a company that provides hosting and data-processing infrastructure, signed the award on 4 September. MN accepted it on 12 October, after work had already begun. Its unit will build the station buildings, supply and install the gear, test it and switch it on. The award includes sales and service tax. Two things stand out. The first is size. MN Holdings had an order book of RM1.64 billion at the end of June, The Edge reported; this one award adds about 18% to that. The second is the clock: September 2026 to August 2027, about 11 months for the stations alone. Tenaga Nasional's own line work to reach them runs alongside. Kinergy's job is the next layer in. Under its RM47.5 million subcontract from Gamuda Engineering, it will put in the main electrical system of the Port Dickson building's core and shell: high-voltage and low-voltage distribution, substations, switchgear, transformers, cabling, lighting and the backup power systems that keep computers running if the grid blinks. Kinergy's earlier data centre work was laying cable for an EdgeConneX project through a joint venture in 2024\. This is its first stand-alone electrical package for a hyperscale hall. Kinergy's chief, Datuk Dr Lai Keng Onn, pointed to Malaysian Investment Development Authority figures showing RM95.8 billion of data centre and cloud projects approved in the first half of 2026\. Approvals are the start of the queue. Every one of those projects needs a plug, and the companies that build plugs are a short list. Not every new hall in Malaysia has a customer lined up. On 12 October we covered [Bitdeer AI's 67 MW Malaysia site](https://www.sotkn.com/wire/bitdeer-ai-67-mw-malaysia-data-center-no-customer-wire/), added with no customer yet. DayOne's halls are the other kind: booked first, built second. For how long each stage of a build usually takes, see [how long it takes to build an AI data center](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-an-ai-data-center/). ## Our math: what do the numbers say? - The loan in US dollars: RM15 billion is about US$3.7 billion, the reported conversion, so RM30 billion is about US$7.4 billion (our arithmetic). - Booked but not yet billing in Johor: 1,398 MW booked less 789 MW billing leaves 609 MW, about 77% more on top of what pays today (our arithmetic). - Spending against income: US$3.11 billion of build spending in the first half against US$512.0 million of revenue is about 6.1 times (our arithmetic). - Growth: first-half revenue of US$512.0 million is about 3.4 times the US$151.5 million a year earlier (our arithmetic). - Who pays the bills: the two largest customers brought in 69.2% plus 15.1%, or 84.3% of revenue in the first half (our arithmetic). - Interest against gross profit: US$62.3 million of interest in the first half is about 23% of the US$270.0 million of adjusted gross profit DayOne reports (our arithmetic). - The 275kV job: RM293.88 million is about 18% of MN Holdings' RM1.64 billion end-June order book, and about RM26.7 million of work a month if spread evenly over 11 months (our arithmetic). - Power work won in one day: RM293.88 million plus RM47.5 million is about RM341 million for two Bursa builders on 12 October (our arithmetic). What this tells you: the customers are booked and the money is lined up. Spending still runs about six times income, and the gap only narrows as booked megawatts switch on. That switch-on waits on the plug. Every month a station slips is a month of interest with no matching bill. ## Who gets paid first? ![Infographic: who gets paid while Johor's data halls wait to plug in, and why the high-voltage hookup is the stuck step](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/10/cd10e222-131f-4ba4-b4a9-ca4214e8c12d/content/images/2026/10/malaysia-dayone-financing-substation-october-2026-infographic.png) Who gets paid / stuck step while Johor's halls wait to plug in. · Education only. First, the banks — from the day they lend. Interest, or the agreed mark-up on the Murabahah part, starts as soon as money is drawn, whether a hall is running or not. With RM30 billion lined up and most of DayOne's debt on a floating rate, the lenders are paid through the build, not after it. Second, the power builders — stage by stage. MN Holdings bills as its two landing stations go up between now and August 2027\. Kinergy bills Gamuda as the Port Dickson wiring goes in, through early 2028\. Gamuda, which handed out the subcontract, is paid by its client as the building goes up. These firms are paid while the hall is still dark. ![Chart of who holds cash in Malaysia's data centre build: RM30B of bank loans, RM293.88M and RM47.5M power contracts, and DayOne spending six times its revenue](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/10/cd10e222-131f-4ba4-b4a9-ca4214e8c12d/content/images/2026/10/malaysia-dayone-financing-substation-october-2026-shift.png) Banks lend, builders bill. The owner spends six times its revenue. · Education only. Third, Tenaga Nasional — once connected. Our [power-use Pulse](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/malaysia/malaysia-data-centre-power-use-october-2026/) found that big data centres sign take-or-pay power contracts, so the utility is paid on the booking once the connection is live, even before a hall is full. The plug is also what lets the utility start billing. Fourth, the hall owners — as halls switch on. DayOne earns on its 789 MW running in Johor today. Its 609 MW of Johor backlog pays only as each hall is powered and handed over. Until then it is spending, not earning. Last, the shareholders — including anyone who buys in the listing. They own what is left after banks are paid. DayOne has made a loss every year so far, and one customer pays more than two-thirds of its bills. Their payoff depends on booked megawatts turning into running ones on time. For a Singapore-listed landlord that owns finished halls instead, see [what Digital Core REIT does](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/ai-data-centers/what-does-digital-core-reit-do/). One-line rule: in Johor right now, banks are paid from the day they lend, power builders are paid as they build, the utility is paid once connected, hall owners are paid as halls switch on, and shareholders wait for all of it. The stuck step is the high-voltage hookup. ## So what is the stuck step? The high-voltage hookup — the landing stations, switchgear and grid lines that let a finished hall draw power. Not demand: 99.3% of what DayOne is building is committed. Not money: seven banks just doubled the loan. Three things make the hookup stick: - **Time:** one site's pair of 275kV stations takes about 11 months, and it has to be done before the first bill. Faster hall building does not shorten it. - **Permission:** DayOne's filing warns that grid links can need easements across other people's land, and that changes to power rules mid-build can delay or add cost. - **Power itself:** the research firm BMI said on 9 October that power is the binding constraint in Malaysia, with grid bottlenecks and new tariffs for sites above 100 MW. Malaysia has 925.6 MW live and 2.0 GW under construction, by BMI's count. So-what: halls that already have their plug, or have it under construction now, get paid on time. New sites join a queue for high-voltage gear and grid work, and the firms that build that gear are paid first. The same pattern shows up in the US, where [the biggest grid is 6.8 GW short](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/us/us-pjm-capacity-shortfall-october-2026/), and in Singapore, where [the state rations data centre power](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/singapore/singapore-data-centre-licence-october-2026/). For the general rule, see [where cash sticks when halls are signed first](https://www.sotkn.com/analysis/halls-signed-before-customers-where-cash-sticks/). ## Which dates test this read next? ![Calendar of dates that test whether the power hookup stays the bind for Malaysian data centres](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cd/10/cd10e222-131f-4ba4-b4a9-ca4214e8c12d/content/images/2026/10/malaysia-dayone-financing-substation-october-2026-calendar.png) Dates that test the read. · Education only. - Date not set — DayOne's Nasdaq price range. The test: how much public investors pay for booked megawatts that are not yet running. - Late November 2026 — Tenaga Nasional's third-quarter results, on its usual timetable. The test: how much new data centre load was connected, against what was booked. - August 2027 — MN Holdings' two 275kV landing stations due. The test: whether the plug arrives on time for the halls behind it. - First quarter of 2028 — Kinergy's Port Dickson electrical works due. The test: whether the hyperscale hall is ready to switch on. - End of 2028 — DayOne says a meaningful majority of its pipeline should be powered by then. The test: whether energising keeps pace with building. The listing date matters for shareholders. The station dates matter for everyone else, because they decide when booked megawatts start paying. ## What would change this view? - Tenaga Nasional connects new data centre load faster than expected — the hookup eases and halls bill sooner. - A landing station or grid line slips past its date — the stuck step tightens and interest runs longer with no bill. - DayOne's listing struggles or prices well below hopes — money would join power as a second gate, as in Australia. - DayOne's largest customer slows its plans — the problem moves from power to demand, which would be worse. ## Practical takeaways - Seven banks doubled DayOne's Johor financing to RM30 billion on 13 October - DayOne runs 789 MW in Johor and is building 616 MW more, with 99.3% of all capacity under construction committed - MN Holdings won RM293.88 million for two 275kV landing stations, September 2026 to August 2027 - Kinergy won RM47.5 million of electrical works at a Port Dickson hyperscale hall, due early 2028 - Banks and power builders are paid first; hall owners are paid as halls switch on - Stuck step: the high-voltage hookup between a finished hall and a running one ## FAQ **What is DayOne?** DayOne is a data centre builder and operator based in Singapore. It started in 2022, grew fastest in Johor, and now has campuses in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Finland, with land in Japan and Singapore. It builds large halls for a few very big cloud and technology customers, who sign contracts of 10 to 15 years. On 5 October 2026 it filed to list its shares on Nasdaq under the ticker DODC. **What is a consumer landing station?** It is the substation on the customer's side where the power company's high-voltage line ends. In Malaysia, big data centres connect to Tenaga Nasional's 275,000-volt lines. The landing station takes that power in, switches it and passes it to the campus. Until it is built and connected, a finished hall cannot run. **What is a Murabahah facility?** It is a loan that follows Islamic finance rules. Instead of charging interest, the bank buys an asset and sells it to the borrower at a higher agreed price, paid over time. The mark-up does the job interest would do. RM5.5 billion of DayOne's new money comes in this form. **Is this investment advice?** No. Education only. It maps who gets paid and which step is stuck. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. ## Keep reading on the map - [Malaysia Markets hub](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/malaysia/) — country page - [Malaysia power-use Pulse](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/malaysia/malaysia-data-centre-power-use-october-2026/) — 5.65 GW booked, 1.26 GW used - [Australia funding Pulse](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/australia/australia-ai-data-centre-funding-october-2026/) — where money became the bind - [What is an AI data center?](https://www.sotkn.com/explained/what-is-an-ai-data-center/) · [AI Data Centers on the stack](https://www.sotkn.com/stack/ai-data-centers/) - [All Markets doors](https://www.sotkn.com/markets/) — Taiwan, Korea, US, China, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia **Get the Wire.** Second Order’s free daily brief on what moved in the AI chip map. [Read the Wire →](https://www.sotkn.com/the-wire/) · [Subscribe free →](https://www.sotkn.com/#/portal/signup) **Members’ Analysis (teaser):** When utilities bill data centres before the power arrives, where does cash stick? The free line: whoever builds the connection is paid before whoever uses it. [Read the Analysis →](https://www.sotkn.com/analysis/utilities-bill-data-centers-before-power-where-cash-sticks/) **How we check this.** DayOne's megawatts, bookings, revenue, build spending, debt and customer shares come from its own Form F-1 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The new financing comes from the lenders' joint statement as reported by The Business Times and The Edge Malaysia. The MN Holdings and Kinergy contracts come from their Bursa Malaysia filings and the reports on them. Analyst price targets and buy calls are left out on purpose. Anything we worked out ourselves is labelled “our arithmetic”. A booked megawatt is not a running hall, and we say so. The references we used are listed at the end. [Our editorial standards →](https://www.sotkn.com/editorial-standards/) Not investment advice. Do your own research. --- ### References 1. DayOne Data Centers Limited, Form F-1 registration statement (SEC), 5 Oct 2026\. [sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2118192/000119312526414188/d223752df1.htm?ref=sotkn.com) — megawatts by market, bookings, revenue, build spending, debt and customer concentration. 2. DayOne, Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering (PR Newswire), 5 Oct 2026\. [prnewswire.com](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dayone-files-registration-statement-for-proposed-initial-public-offering-302898952.html?ref=sotkn.com) — ticker, exchange and underwriters. 3. The Business Times, DayOne's Johor data centre project gets RM15 billion boost in financing from seven lenders, 13 Oct 2026\. [businesstimes.com.sg](https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/asean/dayones-johor-data-centre-project-gets-rm15-billion-boost-financing-seven-lenders?ref=sotkn.com) — the lenders, the two new loans and the RM30 billion total. 4. The Edge Malaysia, DayOne secures additional RM15b financing for Johor data centre expansion, 13 Oct 2026\. [theedgemalaysia.com](https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/821592?ref=sotkn.com) — the same financing, Malaysian report. 5. MN Holdings Berhad, Acceptance of Letter of Award to MN Power Transmission (Bursa Malaysia announcement), 12 Oct 2026\. [klsescreener.com](https://www.klsescreener.com/v2/announcements/view/11683169?ref=sotkn.com) — the two 275kV consumer landing stations, award date and customer description. 6. The Edge Malaysia, MN Holdings bags RM294 mil job to build power facilities for a data centre, 12 Oct 2026\. [theedgemalaysia.com](https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/821541?ref=sotkn.com) — contract value, timetable and order book at end-June. 7. Business Today, Kinergy Secures RM47.5 Million Gamuda Contract For Hyperscale Data Centre, 12 Oct 2026\. [businesstoday.com.my](https://www.businesstoday.com.my/2026/10/12/kinergy-secures-rm47-5-million-gamuda-contract-for-hyperscale-data-centre/?ref=sotkn.com) — the Port Dickson electrical scope and completion date. 8. New Straits Times, Kinergy lands RM47.5mil hyperscale data centre job, 12 Oct 2026\. [nst.com.my](https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/10/1553660/kinergy-lands-rm475mil-hyperscale-data-centre-job?ref=sotkn.com) — the US customer and the MIDA approved-investment figure. 9. New Straits Times, Malaysia's data centre market shifts to higher-value AI deployments: BMI, 9 Oct 2026\. [nst.com.my](https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/10/1551281/malaysias-data-centre-market-shifts-higher-value-ai-deployments?ref=sotkn.com) — live and building capacity, and power as the binding constraint.