Google has committed to a US$2 billion investment in Malaysia, including the development of its first Google data center and Google Cloud region to meet the growing demand for cloud services locally and around the world, and Al literacy programs for Malaysian students and educators.
The site of the Malaysia investments will be in Sime Darby Property’s Elmina Business Park, in Greater Kuala Lumpur.
The Google data centre is intended to power Google’s popular digital services, such as Search, Maps, and Workspace, that billions of people and organizations worldwide, including those in Malaysia, use every day.
The data centre will also play an essential role in enabling Google to deliver the benefits of Al to users and customers across the country.
When operational, Malaysia will join the 11 countries where Google has built and now operates data centers serving users around the world.
The Google Cloud region is expected to deliver high-performance and low-latency services to large enterprises, startups, and public sector organisations. Google Cloud customers will benefit from key controls that allow them to maintain the highest security, data residency, and compliance standards, including specific data storage requirements.
The cloud region will be complemented by Google Cloud’s existing Dedicated Cloud Interconnect locations in Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur, which provide direct connections between an organization’s on-premises network and Google Cloud’s global network.
Google’s Malaysia cloud region will add to 40 other regions and 121 zones currently in operation around the world.
Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google, said this investment builds on their partnership with the government of Malaysia to advance its “Cloud First Policy,” including cybersecurity standards.
Also, Google has launched two programs to foster AI literacy for both students and educators in Malaysia.
First is Gemini Academy, which is designed to help educators safely and responsibly use generative AI tools, such as Gemini, to boost productivity, the Gemini Academy has benefitted more than 600 educators in Malaysia since the launch of its pilot phase in November 2023.
The Ministry of Education is now formally expanding the program to more educational institutions, with the goal of benefiting 15,000 educators by the end of 2024.
Second is Experience AI, an initiative of Google DeepMind, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and the Penang Science cluster. It is designed to increase educators’ knowledge and confidence in delivering lessons about AI to students aged 11 to 14, by providing them with in-person training and equipping them with interactive lesson materials and tutorials.
The program has an initial goal of training 1,000 educators in order to reach 10,000 students across Malaysia.
In November 2023, the Government of Malaysia and Google entered into a strategic collaboration to create inclusive growth opportunities for more Malaysians and homegrown companies using Al and cloud technologies.
The investments and programs announced today further advance Google’s work in Malaysia. They are estimated to support more than $3.2 billion in contributions to Malaysia’s GDP and 26,500 jobs by 2030, according to a Google-commissioned evaluation by AlphaBeta (part of Access Partnership).
