Malaysian telco YTL Communications saidthat it has signed two separate MoUs it says will beef up its ability to support adoption of AI in the country – one with Equinix and the other with free-space optics firm Transcelestial.
The MoU with Equinix will enable international customers to access the YTL AI Cloud through Equinix’s global interconnection services. YTL said this will give businesses reliable and secure access to its GPU-as-a-Service for their AI workloads.
YTL AI Cloud is hosted at YTL’s Green Data Center Park in Johor, which is completely powered by renewable energy, thus enabling businesses to leverage AI with no impact on climate sustainability, said YTL Communications CEO Wing K. Lee in a statement.
“By combining cutting-edge AI technology with sustainability, we empower businesses to innovate using AI while promoting environmental responsibility,” Lee said. “And with the global reach powered by Equinix Fabric, this twin-benefit can be extended to more businesses.”
Meanwhile, under the MoU with Transcelestial, YTL will use the firm’s wireless laser communications technology to upgrade cell tower connectivity across the country.
Lee said Transcelestial’s shoebox-sized Centauri devices provides fibre-level capacity and ultra-low latency without the need for physical fibre cables, making it a more flexible and cheaper option for connecting base stations, especially in locations that are hard to reach or maintain using conventional fibre technology.
“This partnership will help us better serve our customers as data consumption continues to grow,” said Lee.
Lee also tied the Transcelestial partnership into YTL Group’s broader plan to beef up its digital infrastructure to support the Malaysia government’s ambitions to turn the country into a digital AI powerhouse in the ASEAN region.
“Combined with our group’s strategic investments in the 500MW YTL Green Data Centre Park, partnership with Nvidia on the nation’s first sovereign AI Cloud and Malaysia’s first AI-driven digital bank, we have the requisite digital infrastructure to be a key enabler for digital transformation across the country,” Lee said.
Last month, YTL formed a joint venture with telecoms infrastructure firm Bullish Aim Group to deploy a unified fibre optic network in Johor to support the growth of data centres there.
Both MoUs with Equinix and Transcelestial were signed at Mobile World Congress 2025 earlier this month but officially revealed yesterday.