KUALA LUMPUR: Google says its investments in Malaysia will create 26,500 jobs and contribute more than US$3bil (RM12.35bil) to its economy by 2030, as it announced its new data centre and cloud region there had broken ground.
The start of construction of the new US$2bil data centre in Malaysia follows Monday’s announcement of its multi-year partnership with local tech firm Dagang Nexchange Bhd
to provide sovereign cloud services.
It also follows Monday’s announcement that it would invest US$1bil in Thailand to build a data centre and cloud region there, to meet growing cloud demand and support artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in South-East Asia.
“Our investments are designed to provide high performance and reliability, meeting demand for cloud and AI services across the country,” Google president and chief investment officer Ruth Porat told an event in Malaysia.
Digital investments have helped propel Malaysia’s economy this year, with growth beating market expectations in the last two quarters and the ringgit currency becoming one of Asia’s top performers.
Porat said its ventures in Malaysia included support for new sustainability initiatives such as improvements in water quality plus skilling, with 355,000 Malaysians already trained since 2019 in digital skills.
Google’s moves are a part of a wider expansion by global tech companies into South-East Asia, as they vie for a greater presence in a region with a young tech-savvy population of 670 million.
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced cloud services investments worth US$1.7bil in Indonesia, while Amazon plans to invest US$9bil in Singapore, US$5bil in Thailand and US$6.2bil in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said data centres would support the country’s ambitions to be a regional leader in the tech sector, including AI.
“Regionally the demand for data processing and storage solutions is increasing exponentially and Malaysia is well positioned to meet this demand,” he told the event. — Reuters
