KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz is looking to attract Microsoft Corp and Google to set up operations in Malaysia as part of plans for the country to become a data hub.

He told Bloomberg that Malaysia is positioning itself as a neutral supply chain base amid growing tensions between the United States and China.

"We are attracting as many as we can,” he was quoted as saying in the interview published today, adding that Malaysia is "slowly establishing ourselves” to be a data centre hub.

But Malaysia is not the only country in South-east Asia with such plans.

The news agency reported that its regional peers Thailand and Vietnam are going all out to lure multinational companies (MNCs) looking to set up new bases outside China.

"We are seeing a lot of realignment of supply chain, you know, looking at resiliency and security coming to this region,” Tengku Zafrul was quoted as saying.

The former banker also said in the interview that Malaysia’s ecosystem has been proven over the past 50 years and suggested this to be a factor that influenced US car maker Tesla’s decision to set up base here.

"We have to be opportunistic sometimes,” he was quoted as saying about Malaysia’s advantage as a semiconductor hub to appeal to MNCs navigating tricky geopolitics.

"We are in the position of being neutral and being part of the critical supply chain.

"Malaysia has been a net beneficiary,” he was quoted as saying.

Last week, the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) secured RM23.07 billion potential investments and RM2.1 billion potential exports of products and services to Japan after its Trade and Investment Mission to Tokyo and Osaka.

In March, Miti announced its approval over Tesla’s application to import Battery Electric Vehicles into Malaysia, saying that the company will also establish a head office here, together with Tesla Experience and Service centres as well as a supercharger network.