Google announced a $3 billion investment to tap AI demand in Malaysia and Thailand

Google just announced plans to invest a total of $3 billion in Malaysia and Thailand, where the US cloud service provider said demand for the cloud and cloud services is growing. artificial intelligence (WHO).

The funds include 2 billion USD in Google’s first data center and cloud region in Malaysialocated at Sime Darby Property’s Elmina Business Park in Selangor. Construction has begun on the site.

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In a statement Tuesday, Google said the investment is expected to bring a “positive economic impact” of more than $3.2 billion and add 26,500 jobs to the Asian market by year. 2030.

It said the data center and cloud region will facilitate demand for its digital services, including Maps and Google Workspace.

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This new facility will enable manufacturing and service industries, especially small and medium enterprises (SMBs) to exploit technologies, such as AI, said the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry. Malaysian businessman Utama Zafrul Aziz said at the launch, which was also attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Zafrul added that building the necessary skills will ensure the local workforce is ready for future AI-focused and technology investments in the country. These include Google’s commitment to driving workforce initiatives like Gemilang and Future Skills for AI, he said.

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The data center will harness water cooling technology, which Google says will use about 10% less energy than air-cooled locations and result in 10% less carbon emissions.

Google this week also announced a “multi-year” partnership with Malaysian IT services provider, Dagang NeXchange (DNeX), to provide sovereign cloud services in the country. This partnership will support companies in regulated industries, such as healthcare, financial services and energy, that must comply with data sovereignty, security and privacy requirements. private.

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DNeX will operate as an authorized managed services provider of Google Distributed Cloud, providing unlimited infrastructure to these organizations, the US vendor said. Its distributed cloud infrastructure runs in the customer’s preferred environment and will not need to connect to Google cloud regions or the public internet.

The two partners are evaluating plans to establish an AI Center of Excellence to develop AI applications and skillsets locally.

Thai facility takes advantage of AI opportunities

In Thailand, Google said it has spent $1 billion expanding its data centers and cloud infrastructure in Bangkok and Chonburi, as part of efforts to meet growing demand. cloud demand in Southeast Asia and worldwide.

Google said the investment will also support local initiatives that take advantage of AI opportunities. research it released with Deloitte. It will also add $4 billion to Thailand’s GDP by 2029 and support 14,000 local jobs each year from 2025 to 2029, the cloud service provider said.

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It also pointed to further plans to invest in AI skills development in the Asian country, which it said would reach an additional 150,000 Thais by 2026.

Google says it has trained more than 3.6 million people in Thailand over the past five years, including educators, developers and SMBs, where its skills programs include the AI ​​Essentials curriculum and Gemini Academy.