Powerwell wins record RM190m orders for Johor data centre

Powerwell Holdings’ subsidiary Powerwell International Sdn Bhd received two purchase orders on Monday, 21 September 2026, worth RM190.4 million in all, to supply and deliver low-voltage switchgear and related equipment to a data centre in Johor. The buyer, which Powerwell describes only as “one of the leading multinational technology corporations specialising in data centres”, is a returning customer. It is the largest award in the Shah Alam switchboard maker’s 40-year history, and the third time it has broken its own record in nine months.

The orders

• Two purchase orders, one project: RM63.5 million dated 17 September and RM126.9 million dated 18 September, RM190,417,458 in total including sales and service tax.
• Delivery: by the financial year ending 31 March 2028, so the revenue lands across FY2027 and FY2028.
• Order book: RM268.9 million at end-June 2026 before these orders, about RM459 million after them, roughly 2.9 times last year’s revenue.
• Not disclosed: the customer, the data centre’s location within Johor, its capacity, and how delivery is phased between the two orders.

How big it is

• RM190.4 million is 2.8 times the RM68.4 million Selangor order that the same kind of customer placed in January, and 20% more than the RM158.8 million Johor contract from an international contractor in June, which was itself a record.
• It equals 1.2 times Powerwell’s entire FY2026 revenue of RM159.0 million.
• Executive director Soh Wei Wei told The Edge in 2025 that the switchboard and switchgear content of a data centre is about US$500,000 per megawatt i.e. about US$45 million, equips roughly 90MW of data-centre capacity, a mid-sized hyperscale phase.

Capacity, and the market’s view

Powerwell says the orders come as it expands manufacturing capacity. Affin Hwang reported in May that the group had rented an additional factory in Kota Kemuning, lifting its production space to 143,000 sq ft and planned output to 12,000 cubicles a year, and Apex Securities expects a new Shah Alam plant to restore margins by FY2028 with capacity for about RM500 million of output. Apex kept its Hold call and RM1.10 target price on 22 September, arguing that most of the new revenue falls in FY2028 and was already in its forecasts; the Bloomberg consensus target is RM1.22, with one Buy and two Hold calls. The shares closed at RM1.19 on 23 September, valuing Powerwell at RM691 million, up 49% from 80 sen on the day the June contract was announced.

What it means

• Johor’s data centres are now the biggest customer of a Selangor factory. Powerwell’s own Johor plant is a 14,400 sq ft semi-detached factory in Taman Ekoperniagaan, Johor Bahru; the switchboards for these orders will be built in Kota Kemuning and trucked south, which is why the group is adding floor space in Shah Alam rather than Johor.
• Two routes to the hyperscaler. Since 2024 Powerwell’s Malaysian data-centre orders have come either through “international contractors”, the mechanical and electrical firms building the halls, or directly from the technology company. The direct orders, in January and now September, are the large ones.
• The chain behind the sheds. Every hyperscale campus in Johor and Selangor pulls a supply chain of switchgear, cabling, cooling and containment makers, most of them in Selangor industrial parks. Powerwell’s order book has tripled in fifteen months on that demand alone.

Our living profile of the company, with its full contract log and timeline, is at Powerwell profile: the switchboard maker behind data centres.

Cover photo: Powerwell, via The Edge.