Industry Pulse

Round up of key developments in the TMT industry for the week 12 - 18 Oct 2026.

Executive Summary

The APAC digital-infrastructure activity remained strong, but the week showed a sharper divide between projects backed by secured capacity, financing and customer demand, and those reliant on ambitious future projections. Malaysia remained a focal point for AI infrastructure, while Singapore continued to strengthen its quantum-security and digital-infrastructure policy settings.

The most important capital-markets signal was not a lack of demand for data centres. It was greater investor selectivity. AirTrunk delayed its planned Singapore REIT IPO amid volatile AI equity markets and higher rates, while Firmus’s withdrawn Australian IPO remains a warning that public investors will challenge valuations and funding plans where delivery certainty is less clear. DayOne, by contrast, has progressed its Nasdaq filing with substantial disclosed operating capacity and customer bookings.

Singapore Accelerates Quantum-Safe Migration for CII

Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency set out a quantum-safe migration timetable for Critical Information Infrastructure owners and launched a Quantum-Safe Kickstarter Grant. CII owners must submit migration plans by 31 March 2027 and complete migration for covered systems by 31 December 2031. The grant programme opens from 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027 and is intended to support pilots, with priority given to CII organisations.

Singapore’s approach may become a useful reference point for other APAC governments considering how to protect long-lived critical systems against future cryptographic threats.

Data-centre IPOs: Demand Alone Is Not Enough

Not all data-centre operators are valued alike, even in a market with clear AI-driven demand. During the week, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk was reported to have postponed its planned Singapore REIT IPO, which could have raised around US$1.5 billion and valued the platform at approximately US$15 billion. The delay was attributed by sources to volatile technology and AI equity markets, as well as higher interest rates. AirTrunk has not publicly confirmed a revised timetable, although it was reportedly targeting an early-2027 listing.

The delay should be viewed alongside two recent, but distinct, transactions. Firmus withdrew its proposed ASX IPO after investor demand fell short. Reporting pointed to concerns over its valuation, capital needs and the certainty of its development pipeline. DayOne, meanwhile, has filed for a Nasdaq IPO and disclosed 962MW of capacity in service and 2.3GW of customer bookings as of September. Its filing also shows rapid revenue growth, but continuing losses and significant customer concentration. While demand is strong, public-market investors increasingly require evidence of powered capacity, contracted revenues, credible funding and execution discipline before underwriting multi-billion-dollar expansion plans.

DayOne Secures RM15 Billion Financing for Johor Expansion

DayOne secured an expanded RM15 billion multi-currency financing package for its Johor data-centre platform. The seven-bank consortium includes CIMB, Crédit Agricole CIB, DBS, Maybank, OCBC, Standard Chartered and UOB. The package comprises a US$2.4 billion offshore term loan and RM5.5 billion Islamic financing facility. Together with financing arranged in 2025, DayOne said it has established a RM30 billion funding platform for the Johor portfolio.

This is material because it moves a significant part of DayOne’s Malaysian build-out from aspiration to funded execution. Johor is becoming one of Asia’s most important AI and cloud capacity markets, but it is also increasingly constrained by power, land, water and grid-connection requirements. DayOne’s ability to assemble a large bank group across conventional and Islamic financing channels is a positive signal for the bankability of scaled Malaysian data-centre assets. The key next question is whether deployment and customer demand remain aligned with this financing pace.

Princetone Digital Group (PDG) Sells Indonesian Enterprise Portfolio to SM+

PDG signed a definitive agreement to sell its Indonesian enterprise data-centre business to SM+, a Sinar Mas-backed platform. The portfolio comprises five operational facilities across Greater Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Pekanbaru. PDG said the sale would allow it to focus on its hyperscale portfolio, including its JC2, JC3 and JC4 campuses in Greater Jakarta.

The deal is a useful indicator of continued portfolio segmentation in Southeast Asian digital infrastructure. Enterprise colocation and hyperscale campuses increasingly require different capital structures, sales capabilities and operating models. SM+ gains an established operational footprint and local enterprise customer base while PDG gains greater strategic focus on high-density hyperscale capacity, where capital requirements are higher but demand from cloud and AI customers can be deeper and more concentrated.

Nokia Agrees Sale of Enterprise Campus Edge Business

Nokia agreed to sell its Enterprise Campus Edge business to private-equity firm AURELIUS. The business provides on-premise private wireless and edge networking solutions for enterprise customers. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to customary approvals.

The strategic importance lies in Nokia’s portfolio focus. Enterprise private wireless remains relevant to industrial digitalisation, but it differs from Nokia’s core carrier-network and network-infrastructure priorities. A stand-alone owner may be better positioned to make product, channel and investment decisions around a specialist enterprise proposition. This is also another example of telecom vendors reshaping their portfolios around areas where scale and returns are clearer.

CapitaLand Advances Chennai Data-Centre Capacity

CapitaLand Investment confirmed plans for its Chennai 01 data centre in Ambattur, Tamil Nadu. The facility is designed for 53MW of gross capacity and 34MW of IT load across 13 halls, with liquid-cooling readiness and an on-site 110kV substation. Completion is targeted for end-2026.

Chennai’s importance is rising as Indian demand expands beyond Mumbai. Its submarine-cable connectivity, proximity to enterprise and technology demand in southern India, and growing cloud ecosystem make it attractive for both domestic and international workloads.

NAVER Cloud and FPT Target Regional AI Infrastructure

NAVER Cloud and FPT signed a memorandum of understanding to develop AI infrastructure and services across Asia-Pacific. The partners plan to explore AI factories, GPU-as-a-service and AI applications across markets including South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Neither company disclosed committed capital expenditure, capacity or delivery milestones.

The agreement is strategically relevant because it links Korean cloud and AI capabilities with FPT’s regional engineering and enterprise reach. However, it should be treated as an early-stage strategic framework rather than a committed infrastructure deployment. The meaningful indicators to watch are GPU procurement, site selection, customer contracts and financing.