JOHOR BARU: Johor continues to receive robust digital investment opportunities with some RM51bil worth of investment recorded in the first six months of this year from the industry.
State investment, trade and consumer affairs committee chairman Lee Ting Han (pic) said this would strengthen Johor’s position as an ideal investment destination for both local and international companies.
“With the current positive growth, we believe the state will continue to attract more investors from the data centre industry as well as other supporting sectors.
“This naturally refutes claims by certain politicians that the cabotage policy implemented by the Transport Ministry has caused us to lose digital investments,” he told The Star.
Lee noted that four data centres are set to begin operation in 2024 at the Sedenak Tech Park in Kulai.
A data centre refers to a building or facility that is dedicated to the use of computer systems and associated components, including telecommunication and storage systems.
He said the four data centres that are setting up their bases in Johor include the Yondr Group from the Netherlands, Bridge Data Centres (BDC) and ByteDance System from China, as well as the YTL Power International Bhd from Malaysia.
“In Johor, we are seeing an influx of data centre investments pouring in. Four data centres have announced their entry into the state and are now in the construction stage.
“On top of that, at least five more data centre players from Australia, the United States and Singapore have also expressed interest to invest in the state.
“Currently, the state and federal governments are facilitating their entry and we expect to have further updates on their commitments by the second quarter of next year,” he added.
He said that the companies are looking into setting up their facilities in the Nusajaya and Sedenak areas.
Lee also noted that Google had announced in August that they are planning to explore Malaysia to meet the growing demand for cloud services in Asia-Pacific.
“We can see that there is a robust digital investment drive into the country, especially Johor. Their presence in the state is important as it will also attract other supporting industries and further boost investments.
“Their presence will make way for the creation of quality job opportunities that will benefit local talents.
“This will allow locals to get better employment opportunities here, allowing them to remain in the state instead of having to cross over to Singapore,” he said.
