Microsoft to invest $1 billion to set up data centers in Malaysia as part of the “Bersama Malaysia” initiative

Malaysia Prime Minister announced Monday that Microsoft Corporation is investing $1 billion over the next five years in Malaysia as part of a new partnership program with government agencies and local companies. The investment is Microsoft’s biggest investment in the Southeast Asian country and its first data center region in Malaysia as part of the “Bersama Malaysia” initiative to support inclusive economic growth.

The announcement comes after Malaysia gave conditional approvals in February for Microsoft, Google  Amazon, and state telecoms firm Telekom Malaysia to build and manage hyper-scale data centers and provide cloud services.

In a blog post on the company’s website, Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations, said:

“Today’s announcement represents a major milestone for Microsoft in the 28 years we have been operating in Malaysia. We share the Government’s commitment that digital transformation must be inclusive and responsible. As such, we pledge to empower 1 million Malaysians with digital skills, helping them to take advantage of the opportunities this new investment will bring. Building digital infrastructure is fundamental to advancing a nation’s digital economy. The upcoming datacenter region will be a game-changer for Malaysia, enabling the government and businesses to reimagine and transform their operations, to the benefit of all citizens.”

As part of the initiative, Microsoft also plans to skill an additional 1 million Malaysians by end of 2023 to help create economic opportunities for people and businesses in the digital era. Finally, Microsoft will help form the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council to collaborate on cloud-first and digital-native policy recommendations.

Last year alone, Maylasia saw foreign direct investments (FDI) plunge by 68% last year, the biggest decline in Southeast Asia. Malaysia has defended itself as an investment destination, with the finance minister recently saying it was looking at incentives to help attract more FDI. read more

It has said the investments from these cloud service providers will total between 12 billion ringgit and 15 billion ringgit ($2.91 billion-$3.64 billion) over the next five years.

Below is a video overview of the Microsoft Bersama Malaysia initiative.