Malaysia develops data centers to become technology nation
The data center sector can be a catalyst for Malaysia to become a technology nation, said Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong.
Malaysian Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong. Photo courtesy of Bernama.
Addressing an event to launch Data Centre Nexus 2025 on Thursday, Liew said that data centers could become the largest off-takers to boost local technologies, helping the country achieve its industrial and energy transition aspirations by adopting a “whole-of-value-chain” investment approach.
While data centers are not new to Malaysia, the idea of the country becoming a data center hub that fulfils not only domestic usage but also external demand is relatively new, he noted.
The wave on date centers only took off in a big way in 2021, thanks to the entry of hyperscalers and the ecosystem around them.
The deputy minister expressed his hope that Malaysia can build a broad-based consensus among all stakeholders to ensure the data center sector achieves three key objectives, including growing sustainably, both financially and environmentally; enabling a ‘whole-of-value-chain’ growth; and bringing maximum benefit to Malaysia and Malaysians.
Liew noted that Malaysia attracted RM278 billion($65.1 billion) in digital investments from 2021 to December 2024, with RM184.7 billion allocated for data center-related projects, including data centers, cloud computing, data hosting, and others.
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