Malaysia’s data center boom, centered on Johor, was built on cheap land, power, and permissive regulation. Operators are responding with treated water systems, renewable energy agreements, and local content commitments, though largely in response to political risk rather than principle. Unchecked data center expansion eventually collides with the basic resource needs of the people who live nearby, and when it does, the political backlash can be swift. Global real estate advisers have found that community objections, alongside grid bottlenecks and equipment shortages, contributed to delays on more than half of data center projects worldwide last year. The AI boom needs power, land, and water in enormous quantities, and Southeast Asia has all three to offer.