KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 ― Malaysia is expected to see a greater increase in digital transformation and digital trust in society, driven by the new investment from Amazon Web Services (AWS) worth RM25.5 billion over 15 years for a new infrastructure "region” in Malaysia.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the largest international technology investment to date into the country will in turn lead to greater innovation and investment in Malaysia, propelling the nation to truly be Southeast Asia’s data centre and digital hub for the region.

"Bringing access to world-class AWS infrastructure, advanced technologies, and advanced digital skills programmes to Malaysia will unlock opportunities for local businesses to build and expand globally, cultivate a digitally enabled workforce, spur job creation, and deliver long-term economic growth.

"Today’s announcement is a vote of confidence and support for Malaysia's leadership in the global digital economy, and we look forward to deepening our collaboration with AWS to advance our nation’s digital economy ambitions,” he said in a recorded speech at the AWS Malaysia Cloud Day here today.

Anwar said the investment will also advance the Malaysia Madani vision of a highly skilled, innovative, inclusive, and sustainable economy where wealth is shared more equitably.

"Today, we’ve already seen a large number of Malaysian companies ― from startups to enterprises ― transform their services and processes, resulting in greater innovation, more secure processing of data, and lower operational costs with Cloud service providers like AWS.

"Petronas has been a lighthouse example of how a leading Malaysian organisation accelerates its digital transformation journey by leveraging the power of the Cloud to modernise its IT, drive smarter operations and faster decisions through insights from data analytics, and build new digital applications such as Petronas SETEL to improve customer experience,” he added.

The prime minister said the same goes for Silverlake Axis, a Malaysia-founded finance and fintech company, which has used AWS to digitise and modernise 25 applications, enabling them to offer more innovative services to their customers.

Additionally, he said, Pos Malaysia Bhd, by migrating to the Cloud, has been able to navigate its business transformation to diversify beyond the traditional provision of mail and parcel delivery to now offer retail, logistics, and other innovative products and services.

For these companies, Anwar said an AWS Region in Malaysia will further accelerate the transformation and the creation of innovative digital services, using the secure, high-performing, resilient, and trusted infrastructure.

"AWS has also signed the Cloud Framework Agreement (CFA) with the Malaysian government, giving a booster to Cloud adoption in the public sector and helping agencies save costs, enhance digital skills and drive innovation,” he continued.

The digital economy's contribution to the national gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 23.2 per cent in 2021.

"Our goal of increasing the digital economy contribution to 25.5 per cent of Malaysia's GDP can be reached well by 2025. This is possible through public and private sector investments in digital infrastructure, human capital, business capacities, and improved public service delivery,” he said.

Also present at the event was the Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Teo Nie Ching and Petronas president and group chief executive officer Tengku Datuk Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz. ― Bernama