Malaysia: Data centres driving tech nation ambition
KUALA LUMPUR: The data centre sector can be a catalyst for Malaysia to become a technology nation, said Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong.
He said that data centres could become the largest off-takers to boost Malaysian technologies, helping the country achieve its industrial and energy transition aspirations by adopting a 'whole-of-value-chain' investment approach.
'While data centres are not new to Malaysia, the idea of Malaysia becoming a data centre hub that fulfils not only domestic usage but also external demand is relatively new.
'The new wave only took off in a big way in 2021, thanks to the entry of hyperscalers and the ecosystem around them,' he said at the Data Centre Nexus 2025 event in Bangsar today.
Liew expressed hope that Malaysia could build a broad-based consensus among all stakeholders to ensure the data centre sector achieves three key objectives.
He said the first objective is for the sector to grow sustainably, both financially and environmentally.
'The second objective is to enable a 'whole-of-value-chain' growth—from renewable energy sources to the local equipment supply chain, to a robust service sector that develops expertise in building and maintaining data centres.
'The third objective is that the sector's development should bring maximum benefit to Malaysia and Malaysians, maintaining the social license and broad-based public support for the sector,' he said.
Liew noted that Malaysia attracted RM278 billion in digital investments from 2021 to December 2024, with RM184.7 billion allocated for data centre-related projects, including data centres, cloud computing, data hosting, and others.
He also outlined three missions that the data centre sector could focus on.
'First, leading the way in the energy transition, as the world shifts away from coal to low-emission sources in power generation.
'In Malaysia, the energy transition is much slower compared to other countries. As the most important factor in the growth of energy demand, I would like to see the data centre sector become the most dynamic off-taker for renewable energy in Malaysia,' he said.
Second, Liew highlighted the need for investment in a Malaysian equipment supply chain, stressing the urgent need to localise it.
'For a variety of reasons, I strongly believe that with the data centre sector as an off-taker, we could build a non-United States, non-China supply chain that will eventually serve the world.
'I would like to see the data centre sector invest in this together, creating a 'Build by Malaysia' era. More horizontal connections between the data centre sector and the semiconductor industry are something I hope to see developed as quickly as possible,' he said.
Liew said the third mission is to create data centre service jobs for Malaysia and the region.
'As more and more data centres are built in Malaysia, we would like to see a concerted effort to nurture a new generation of engineers for both the construction, maintenance, and operations of the data centres,' he added.
'I would like to see more emphasis on job creation across the entire value chain of the data centre sector,' he added.
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