Google unveils $3B investment to tap AI demand in Malaysia and Thailand

Google has unveiled plans to invest a total of $3 billion in Malaysia and Thailand, where the US cloud vendor says there is growing demand for cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). 

The funds include $2 billion toward Google’s first data center and cloud region in Malaysia, located in Sime Darby Property’s Elmina Business Park in Selangor. Construction has begun on the site. 

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The investment is expected to fuel in excess of $3.2 billion in “positive economic impact” and add 26,500 jobs for the Asian market by 2030, said Google in a statement Tuesday. 

It said the data center and cloud region will facilitate demand for its digital services, including Maps and Google Workspace. 

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The new facility will enable the manufacturing and services-based industries, in particular, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to tap technologies, such as AI, said Malaysia’s Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry, Utama Zafrul Aziz, at the launch, which also was attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. 

Zafrul added that building the necessary skills will ensure the local workforce is ready for future AI-focused and tech investments flowing into the country. These include Google’s commitment to drive workforce initiatives such as Gemilang and Future Skills for AI, he said. 

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The data center will tap water-cooling technology, which Google said will use some 10% less energy compared to air-cooled sites and result in 10% less carbon emissions. 

Google this week also announced a “multi-year” partnership with Malaysian IT services provider, Dagang NeXchange (DNeX), to provide sovereign cloud services in the country. The collaboration will support companies in regulated industries, such as healthcare, financial services, and energy, that must comply with data sovereignty, security, and privacy requirements. 

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DNeX will operate as an authorized managed services provider of Google Distributed Cloud, offering an air-gapped infrastructure to these organizations, the US vendor said. Its distributed cloud infrastructure runs within the customer’s preferred environment and will not need to be connected to a Google cloud region or public internet, it added.

The two partners are evaluating plans to establish an AI Center of Excellence to develop local AI applications and skillsets. 

Thai facility to leverage AI opportunities 

Over in Thailand, Google said it has set aside $1 billion to expand its data center and cloud infrastructure in Bangkok and Chonburi, as part of efforts to meet growing cloud demand in Southeast Asia and worldwide. 

The investment also will support local initiatives to leverage AI opportunities, said Google, citing a study it released with Deloitte. It also will add a projected $4 billion to Thailand’s GDP by 2029 and support 14,000 local jobs a year between 2025 and 2029, the cloud vendor said. 

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It also pointed to further plans to invest in AI skills development in the Asian nation, which it said will reach another 150,000 Thais by 2026. 

Google said it has trained more than 3.6 million in Thailand over the past five years, including educators, developers, and SMBs, where its skills programs include an AI Essentials curriculum and Gemini Academy.