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Ecosystem Roundup: ByteDance to invest US$2.1B in Malaysia for AI push | Singapore, Jakarta top startup rankings despite funding slowdown

Dear reader,

ByteDance’s decision to expand its data centre facilities in Malaysia with an additional MYR 1.5 billion (US$320 million) investment marks a significant milestone for the country’s digital economy.

By choosing Malaysia as its regional AI hub and proposing an investment of MYR 10 billion, ByteDance demonstrates confidence in the nation’s growing tech infrastructure. The announcement, made by Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade, and industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz, underscores the country’s strategic importance in the competitive data center market in Asia.

This expansion is poised to help Malaysia reach its ambitious goal of having the digital economy contribute 22.6 per cent of the GDP by 2025. Johor, already a hotspot for data centre investments, benefits further as ByteDance anchors the Bridge Data Centres’ MY06 facility.

This move aligns with Malaysia’s broader trend of attracting substantial investments from global tech firms, as evidenced by other major projects such as Princeton Digital Group’s and GDS’s developments.

The surge in data centre activities, supported by companies like ByteDance, positions Malaysia at the forefront of APAC’s fastest-growing data centre markets. With a robust development pipeline promising 600 per cent capacity growth over the next five years, Malaysia is solidifying its role as a key player in the regional and global digital economy.

Sainul,
Editor.

—-

NEWS

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