Amazon to invest US$6.2 billion in Malaysia through 2038

[KUALA LUMPUR] Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon.com, on Thursday (Aug 22) announced the launch of the AWS Asia-Pacific (Malaysia) Region with plans to invest about US$6.2 billion in Malaysia through 2038.

In a statement on Thursday (Aug 22), AWS said this new region will provide developers, startups, entrepreneurs and enterprises, as well as government, education and non-profit organisations, with enhanced options for workloads and securely storing data in Malaysia.

The announcement follows AWS’ commitment last year to invest about US$6 billion to establish an AWS Region in the country.

The new infrastructure is expected to contribute about US$12.1 billion to Malaysia’s gross domestic product and create over 3,500 jobs each year across various sectors like construction and facility engineering until 2038.

AWS said it continues to invest in upskilling Malaysia’s workforce, having trained more than 100,000 people in cloud skills since 2017. It is also committed to sustainability, aiming for net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040 and water positivity by 2030.

The AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region consists of three zones, strategically located to ensure business continuity while minimising latency for high-availability applications. Each zone will feature independent power, cooling and security systems, connected by ultra-low-latency networks.

“The launch of an AWS infrastructure region in Malaysia provides access to new and emerging technology for Malaysian entities and businesses of all sizes, boosting our country’s capabilities for digital innovation,” said Minister for Investment, Trade and Industry Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

With the addition of this region, AWS now operates 108 zones across 34 geographic regions, with plans for 18 more zones and six additional AWS Regions in Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Taiwan and AWS European Sovereign Cloud.

AWS vice-president of infrastructure services Prasad Kalyanaraman noted that the new AWS Region in Malaysia empowers organisations across the Asia-Pacific to harness the full potential of the world’s “most extensive and reliable cloud”.

This enables customers to deploy advanced applications using a wide range of AWS technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, he said.

“Malaysia’s rapidly growing digital economy requires access to secure, resilient and sustainable cloud infrastructure,” he said, adding that AWS will support the country’s digital transformation and help accelerate its role as a regional AI hub.