Malaysia has drawn RM76bil in data centre investments in just over two years, says Tengku Zafrul

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Malaysia has received RM76bil worth of investments involving data centres from 2021 until March this year.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said this considerable growth was supported by several factors and was in line with the government's desire to make the country a regional data centre hub.

"Now there are many data centres operating here but when we look at the growth, it is really big.

"Our target is to become a hub for not only the Asean region but also Asia," he told the media after officiating the opening of the GDS NTP data centre campus at Nusajaya Technology Park here on Thursday (Aug 10).

Tengku Zafrul added that factors driving the growth of data centres here included government policies and incentives on renewable energy, land and the exisiting digital economy ecosystem.

He said this was proven by the commitment of industry players through the electricity supply agreement between Tenaga Nasional Berhad and four data centre players involving supply with a total capacity of 1,500 megawatts.

In his speech earlier, Tengku Zafrul said the digital economy stood as one of Malaysia's foremost economic cornerstones, contributing a substantial 23.2% to the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) or RM348bil in 2021.

"This contribution is expected to reach 25.5% by 2025, or more than RM382bil, which is approximately US$84bil.

"As for the data centre market share in Malaysia, the projection is nothing short of remarkable, with an expected average annual growth rate of 16% or US$2.08bil (RM9.36bil) from 2021 to 2026," he added.