(Bloomberg) — Microsoft Corp. will invest $2.2 billion to build digital infrastructure in Malaysia, the latest in a series of big bets on Asia’s growing prominence as a technology market.
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The company plans to spend the money over four years, building infrastructure for its cloud computing and artificial intelligence services, CEO Satya Nadella said during a visit to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. It will also provide AI training to 200,000 people in Malaysia and work with the government to increase the country’s cybersecurity capabilities.
Microsoft is competing with the likes of Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to win companies in Southeast Asia, a rapidly digitizing region with more than 650 million people. Tech companies are expanding their operations in Malaysia and neighboring countries such as Singapore, diversifying beyond China to reduce geopolitical risks amid tensions between Beijing and Washington.
“We are committed to supporting Malaysia’s AI transformation and ensuring it benefits all Malaysians,” said Nadella at the end of a guided tour of three countries in the region. In Kuala Lumpur, he met Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim before speaking to business leaders and developers at a company event.
The investment is Microsoft’s largest in its 32 years in Malaysia and underlines Microsoft’s drive to emerge as a winner in Asia. Nadella has pledged at least $7 billion to develop the company’s services from Japan to India, while promoting AI as a driver of growth and encouraging countries to increase investment in the technology.
In Malaysia, the southern region of Johor Bahru – connected by bridge to Singapore – is emerging as one of the growing hotspots for AI data centers in Asia. Last year, Nvidia Corp. has teamed up with local utility YTL Power International Bhd. to build a $4.3 billion AI data center park in the area.
AI adoption is still in its infancy in Southeast Asia, but it has the potential to add around $1 trillion to the region’s economy by 2030, with Malaysia expected to raise around $115 billion, according to a report by Kearney consulting firm.
Microsoft said this week that it will train a total of 2.5 million people in AI skills in Southeast Asia by 2025. About 680,000 developers in Malaysia used the Microsoft-owned GitHub coding platform in 2023, an annual increase of 28 %.
At the start of his trip, Nadella announced a $1.7 billion investment in Indonesia and an undisclosed amount in Thailand in similar efforts to build AI cloud and digital infrastructure. As part of its spending in Thailand, Microsoft plans to invest about $1 billion in a new data center in Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported.
–With assistance from Ram Anand.
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