The Malaysia government is currently in the final phase of negotiations with four multinational companies (MNCs) to develop cloud-based services facilities and data centres in the country, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Tan Sri Annuar Musa said.
According to a report by Bernama, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said that the Ministry of Finance has informed that one negotiation had been completed and three were nearing completion to enable the international companies to make larger investments. “One of these companies informed me that their investment is worth more than RM1 billion for cloud computing and cloud services,” he told reporters after officiating Malaysian Family Digital Economy Centre (PEDi) and launching high-speed broadband service unifi here today.
In a related development, Annuar said there are at least three local and international companies planning to develop broadband services in Sarawak.“They have met with the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to disclose their plans to make another intercontinental cable, a submarine cable that will pass through northern Sarawak via the coast in the South China Sea,” he said.
He said the plan has been notified to the Ministry of Transport and would be presented to the Cabinet for approval. “If this project is realised, Sarawak will be an important landing point for the country,” he added.
These are some of the initiatives Malaysia is taking in an effort to position itself as a Digital Hub in Southeast Asia. Malaysia is a mature market for data centers and has a strong presence in the Southeast Asian region. The country is witnessing investments in around five facilities, expected to be operational in the next 2-3 years.
In the recent Malaysia Cloud and Datacenter Convention (MYCDC) 2021, organised by W.Media, Tan Tze Meng, Head of Data Cloud Business Unit, Digital Infrastructure and Services Department, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) touched upon the fact that Malaysia has abundant reserves of resources and favorable government policies for data centers, which will be significant factors driving the growth of the market.
