MAIN Market-listed property development and construction firm Malton Bhd has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Silicon Valley-based AI (artificial intelligence) cloud infrastructure provider Ricloud AI Inc to collaborate on the establishment of AI compute centres in Malaysia before expanding to the wider Southeast Asian region.
The proposed collaboration marks an extension of Malton’s technical execution capabilities into the digital infrastructure sector at a time when regional demand for high-performance computing, AI workloads and sovereign cloud systems continues to expand.
Under the commercial framework, the responsibilities are divided by technical expertise and local operational delivery.
Ricloud will leverage its official NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP) status to secure international technology investors, provide core design architectures, manage AI server procurement and supply certified NVIDIA GPU clusters and software solutions.
Malton will serve as the on-the-ground execution partner, assisting investors with land site identification, managing local municipal approvals and regulatory permits and acting as the main contractor for the construction, testing and structural commissioning of the facilities.
Once a potential investor has been confirmed by Ricloud, a definitive agreement will be entered into between all the parties.
The collaboration matches crucial structural shifts within the domestic digital landscape.
Malaysia’s broader data centre market is projected to reach US$11.40 bil (RM47.2 bi1) by 2031 from a US$6.14 bil (RM25.42 bil) in 2025, thus expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.86%.
Following heightened federal scrutiny regarding the power and resource consumption of generic data operations, the regulatory environment has transitioned in February 2026 to restrict the development of new non-AI data centre facilities.
This policy mandate establishes specialised AI compute centres which require highly intensive GPU (graphics processing unit) clusters, high-bandwidth networking and direct-to-chip liquid cooling systems as the primary approved digital infrastructure pipeline in the country.
Malton intends to target this pipeline through its construction and project management subsidiary, Domain Resources Sdn Bhd, which has delivered major landmark commercial projects exceeding RM5 bil in aggregate value.
They include regional retail malls such as Pavilion Bukit Jalil Mall, high-rise residential developments, industrial units and residential townships.
At the close of today’s (June 23) market trading, Malton was up 0.5 sen or 1.96% to 26 sen with 175,000 shares traded, thus valuing the company at RM149 mil. – June 23, 2026
