Malaysia’s digital investment soar to 14.9 bln USD in H1: official

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) — Malaysia’s approved digital investment has surged to 66.22 billion ringgit (14.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the first half of the year, surpassing 46.2 billion ringgit of the whole of last year, a Malaysian official said on Monday.
This investment boom has seen the creation of 25,498 new jobs, exceeding the 22,258 jobs recorded in the previous year, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said in a statement.
“These figures highlight the surging confidence of domestic and international investors, as well as leading tech companies in Malaysia’s thriving digital ecosystem,” he said.
Data centers and cloud companies collectively contributed to the lion’s share of digital investment value across all sectors. Information Technology (Infotech) and Global Business Services (GBS) companies led in the area of digital job creation, as companies race to set up their centers of excellence and high-value GBS operations in Malaysia, he added.
On digital exports, Gobind said as of June 2024, the ministry’s efforts via the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s partnerships and business matching programs generated export opportunities worth over 1.93 billion ringgit. ■