Google has pledged to invest $2 billion in Malaysia

Google Inc will invest US $2 billion (S $2.705 billion) in Malaysia to build its first data centre and Google Cloud region, the Malaysian government announced on Thursday (May 30), making it the latest tech giant to inject capital into the region in search of growth opportunities.

A government statement quoted by Agence France-Presse said the funds will support 26,500 jobs in various sectors in Malaysia, including healthcare, education and finance. A few days ago, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced his plan to attract at least $107 billion for the semiconductor industry.

In April, Anwar said he planned to build Southeast Asia's largest integrated circuit design park, while offering incentives including tax breaks and subsidies to attract global technology companies and investors.

Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent company Alphabet, said: "Google's first data centre and Google Cloud Regions are our largest planned investments in Malaysia to date. Google has been proud to call Malaysia home for 13 years.

"This investment builds on our partnership with the Malaysian government to advance its' cloud-first policy, 'including best-in-class cybersecurity standards."

Malaysia's Minister of Investment, International Trade and Industry, Zaflur, said the funding "will greatly advance" Malaysia's digital ambitions outlined in the 2030 Master Plan.

He added that data centers and cloud regions "will enable our manufacturing and services sectors to leverage advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to move up the global value chain."

According to a Google statement, the data center and cloud area will be located at the Elmina business park in the central state of Selangor. The data center will support popular services such as Google Search, Maps and Workspace. The cloud center will serve local companies and the public sector. "Malaysia will join the 11 countries where Google has built and operates data centres to serve users around the world," the statement said.

Microsoft Corp said this month it would invest $2.2 billion in artificial intelligence and cloud computing in Malaysia, and Chief Executive Satya Nadella pledged billions of dollars in Thailand and Indonesia during a tour of operations in the region.

U.S. e-commerce company Amazon said it will invest $9 billion in Singapore over the next four years to expand its cloud computing capabilities.