TikTok owner ByteDance plans to transform Malaysia into a regional AI hub with a projected investment of about RM10 billion, announced investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he revealed that this was conveyed to him during his meeting with TikTok vice president Helena Lersch in Singapore earlier today.
“This additional investment by Bytedance will undoubtedly help Malaysia achieve its target of growing the digital economy to 22.6% of Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2025,” the minister said.
TikTok terus tingkatkan pelaburan di Malaysia!
Saya mengadakan pertemuan bersama Helena Lersch, Naib Presiden TikTok, bagi membincangkan perkembangan TikTok di Malaysia.
Setakat ini, TikTok melalui ByteDance System telah membangunkan pusat data di Sedenak Tech Park, Kulai,… pic.twitter.com/Apw2voOOGQ
— Tengku Zafrul 🇲🇾 (@tzafrul_aziz) June 7, 2024
Zafrul also noted that the company developed a data centre at Sedenak Tech Park in Kulai, Johor. Considering future needs, ByteDance is planning to expand the facility with an additional investment of RM1.5 billion, he added.
The announcement follows similar large investments in Malaysia by other tech giants. As you may recall, Microsoft announced last month that it will invest US$2.2 billion (~RM10.5 billion) to expand cloud and AI services, while Google followed up weeks later revealing that it plans to invest US$2 billion (~RM9.42 billion) to develop its first data centre and Google Cloud region in the country.
(Source: Tengku Zafrul, via X)
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