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Microsoft to invest US$2.2 billion in Malaysia, as Silicon Valley eyes bigger Southeast Asia footprint

  • The investment aims to develop cloud technology and AI through establishing a national AI centre of excellence and training up to 200,000 people
  • Silicon Valley giants including Amazon and Google, along with Chinese tech conglomerates such as Alibaba are making a big push to grow in Southeast Asia

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Participants check a Microsoft booth Microsoft Build’s AI Day in Kuala Lumpur. Microsoft pledged a US$2.2 billion investment in artificial intelligence and cloud computing in Malaysia to help develop the country’s AI infrastructure. Photo: AFP
Microsoft will invest US$2.2 billion in Malaysia to develop cloud technology and artificial intelligence, in the company’s biggest investment in the country unveiled on Thursday by the chief executive of the world’s largest company during his whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia.
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Silicon Valley giants including Amazon and Google, along with Chinese tech conglomerates such as Alibaba, are making a big push to expand in Southeast Asia, which is home to 700 million people and whose economies are collectively worth over US$3.8 trillion.
The region also offers a safe haven for supply chains from China seeking to avoid US tariffs as the trade war between the two superpowers grinds on.
Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Build: AI Day event in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: EPA-EFE
Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella at the Microsoft Build: AI Day event in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: EPA-EFE

“We really want to make sure we have world class infrastructure right here in the country so that every organisation, every software developer, every start-up, can use it to really not only build for this country, but for the world and region,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in his keynote presentation at Microsoft’s AI Day in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

The investment will target AI programmers and developers, and also businesses and communities “to drive inclusive economic growth and innovation across the country”, Satya said in a separate statement released by Malaysia’s trade ministry.

Satya arrived from Bangkok, where on Wednesday he unveiled Microsoft’s plan to build a regional data centre. The US tech giant will also invest US$1.7 billion in Indonesia’s AI and cloud technology potential.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (right) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Putrajaya. Photo: AP
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (right) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in Putrajaya. Photo: AP
Microsoft’s latest investment pledge, which will be spread over four years, will be the single largest since it set up operations in the country 32 years ago, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.
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