The Southeast Asian country of Malaysia is getting another multibillion-dollar investment from U.S. Big Tech, the latest in the region’s drive to capitalize on the AI boom.
On Wednesday, Oracle announced it would invest at least $6.5 billion toward a public cloud region in Malaysia. A cloud region is the real-world location where cloud facilities are located. Oracle said the new facilities would enable its customers in Malaysia to leverage AI services, and help Malaysian organizations modernize their digital applications.
“Malaysia offers unique growth opportunities for organizations looking to accelerate their expansion with the latest digital technologies,” said Garrett Ilg, Oracle's executive vice president and general manager for Japan and Asia Pacific, in a statement.
Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade, and industry said Oracle’s investment will support the country’s ambitious plan to create 3,000 smart factories by 2030.
Oracle’s cloud investment follows a similarly sized pledge from Amazon. In late August, the U.S. company’s cloud computing division promised $6.2 billion in investment for Malaysia. Microsoft and Google have also announced multibillion-dollar investments in Malaysian cloud infrastructure.
Malaysia is working to position itself as a tech hub in Southeast Asia. In addition to data centers, Malaysia is courting semiconductor investments in a bid to move up the chip supply chain.
The country is working on a national cloud office and AI strategy, Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for Google’s new $2 billion data center complex. The U.S. company claims the investment will create 26,500 jobs and generate $3.2 billion in economic activity by 2030.
Southeast Asia cloud investments
Other Southeast Asian economies are attracting cloud-related investments.
In May, Amazon pledged to invest $9 billion into its existing cloud infrastructure in Singapore by 2028. The Southeast Asian city-state has been a regional data hub for the U.S. company since 2010.
On Monday, Google said it will invest $1 billion in Thailand to build a new data center and expand the country’s cloud infrastructure. Microsoft also says it has a “significant commitment” to build new cloud and AI infrastructure in Thailand, according to CEO Satya Nadella in May.
Microsoft is promising $1.7 billion in cloud- and AI-related investment in Indonesia, as well.
The investment in Southeast Asia’s data centers is part of a global push to invest in computing capacity to fuel new AI services. Last month, a consortium of companies including Microsoft and BlackRock pledged to mobilize $100 billion in capital to invest in new data centers.
