PETALING JAYA: Amazon Web Services' (AWS) RM25.5 billion plans to launch the first AWS region in Malaysia will facilitate more local companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be more involved in the digital economy.
International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the spillover effects from AWS's plans would enable Malaysia to attract more investments and benefit local organisations.
"Cloud is one of the major enablers for businesses to come to Malaysia when they want to grow and the data centres we currently have here would not be enough to support that growth so the investment is positive for Malaysia.
"It would also have an effect on our talent pool as we need more people with technology background. With AWS, it would allow more tech companies to come here and provide opportunities for Malaysian talents to participate in the digital economy," Tengku Zafrul told reporters after the announcement made by AWS.
AWS will invest RM25.5 billion in Malaysia by 2037 including on cloud computing infrastructure with three availability zones to run applications and store data securely, with fast access to AWS services.
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli welcomed the investment by AWS to establish a data region in the country as one of its biggest investments to date.
"This is a significant development that will have a profound impact on Malaysia's digital transformation and innovation efforts. Malaysia is proud that AWS has chosen the country as its destination of choice in the growing data centre market of Asean," he said.
The investment was timely as the country was undergoing critical reforms to restructure and digitalise its economy, Rafizi added.
Malaysia needed real-time, granular data made available via an environment conducive to experimentation and learning, he said.
"The prerequisite for this is affordable, scalable, and secure data infrastructure, and cloud computing platforms like AWS provide all three ingredients. This investment is also key to creating a cloud-first public sector with the competency to deliver digitalised services for the rakyat's ease, while using data to continuously improve public service quality," added Rafizi.