The world's giant technology company, Google will invest as much as $2 billion in Malaysia with part of the funds going towards the construction of its first data center and cloud. It is driven by the rise of the AI industry and cloud storage services.
According to Alphabet's CIO, Ruth Porat said this investment was built on a partnership with the Malaysian Government to advance the 'Cloud First Policy' including their best standards in cyber security.
He also said that the investment will be Google's largest in Malaysia during the 13 years it has been operating here.
The data center will power Google's digital services such as Search, Maps and Work Space. Meanwhile, Cloud will provide services to public and private companies.
Google also launched two AI literacy programs in this country for students and educators.
These investments and programs are expected to contribute more than $3.2 billion to Malaysia's GDP and support 26,500 job opportunities by 2030.
The Cloud Malaysia region is the latest addition to the Google network which consists of 40 regions and 121 zones worldwide.
Previously, Microsoft also invested $2.2 billion in Malaysia to develop its latest Cloud and AI infrastructure. Indonesia and Thailand are also involved in the improvement.
Tech giants such as Google and Microsoft have pledged billions of dollars to Southeast Asia to capitalize on increased demand in AI services and cloud computing.
The boom of the AI industry in the global market has increased the demand for cloud computing services and data centers as large amounts of data are needed to train models.
A data center is a facility that contains servers and other infrastructure to store data and run applications or services.
YB Senator, Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Aziz said Google's investment in Malaysia will significantly advance the digital ambitions outlined in the country's New Industrial Master Plan 2030.
The minister added that Google's investment will enable the manufacturing industry, based on AI services and other advanced technologies to be further strengthened in the global chain.
