Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants are investing billions of dollars in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Google unveiled on Thursday a $2 billion investment in Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country home to over 670 million people. The investment will mostly go towards building data centers and similar infrastructure in Malaysia.
Malaysia is one of the world’s most promising economies with some of the fastest GDP growth in the region. In 2023, Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product expanded by 3.7%, following a whopping 8.7% annual change in 2022.
The $2 billion investment will create 26,500 new jobs and add an estimated $3.2 billion to Malaysia’s GDP by 2030, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.
Google’s investment “is not just about infrastructure; it’s about unlocking new possibilities for businesses, educators, and every Malaysian,” Farhan S Qureshi, country director for Google Malaysia, said.
The Cupertino giant is the latest big tech company to invest in the country. Microsoft, the world’s highest-valued company at over $3 trillion, announced a $2.2 billion investment in cloud infrastructures in Malaysia.
Other large companies that announced billionaire investments in the country include Phison Electronics, ARM Holdings, Skyechip, and the Shenzhen Semiconductor Industry Association. Reuters reported that Malaysia received over $15 billion in foreign investments from tech companies in Q3 2022 alone.
Focus on AI
Google’s $2 billion investment will offer “high-performance, low-latency cloud services” to local enterprises. Infrastructures for its cloud service, Azure, was also the main focus of Microsoft’s expenses in the country.
Cloud services are now a major source of revenue for tech giants all around the world, as they offer the basis for AI start-ups to start operating.
The artificial intelligence boom opened endless opportunities for Southeast Asian countries, that missed out on previous tech discoveries. Countries like Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are creating legislation welcoming AI start-ups and foreign tech investments.
Kerney, a major global consultancy firm, estimates that artificial intelligence could contribute up to $1 trillion to the Southeast Asian economy by 2030.
Malaysian Economic Minister Rafizi Ramli gave a speech during the KL20 summit in Kuala Lumpur on the future of the country’s digital market. “With the right investors and the right talent in Malaysia, we will make our country the Southeast Asia base for global technology companies under the Unicorn Golden Pass,” Ramli said. “We want to attract global unicorns and bring them into Malaysia to create high-skilled, high-value jobs, as well as develop a pipeline of future entrepreneurs and senior leaders in the technology sector."
