Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The data centre sector can be a catalyst for Malaysia to become a technology nation, said Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong.
Addressing an event to launch Data Centre Nexus 2025 on May 8, Liew said that data centres 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 centres are not new to Malaysia, the idea of the country becoming a data centre hub that fulfils not only domestic usage but also external demand is relatively new, he noted.
The wave on date centres 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 centre 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 278 billion RM (65.1 billion USD) in digital investments from 2021 to December 2024, with 184.7 billion RM allocated for data centre-related projects, including data centres, cloud computing, data hosting, and others./.
Malaysia takes actions to retain talents
Economist Prof Geoffrey Williams from the Malaysia University of Science and Technology held that the main reasons are the lack of job opportunities in Malaysia for high-skilled graduates, poor career development and limited promotion prospects.
