Google to invest US$15 billion in Malaysia in 2027 and 2028 amid data centre expansion

[KUALA LUMPUR] Google will invest US$15 billion in Malaysia from 2027 to 2028 with the spending going towards data centre campuses, clean energy, bolstering water security and upskilling workers, the unit of Alphabet said on Wednesday (Nov 4).

Google plans to build new campuses in the states of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, in addition to its first campus at Elmina Business Park in Selangor, which is already operational.

“This investment aligns with Malaysia’s development priorities, providing the foundational computing capacity to deliver the upside of innovation across the country while adding local power and water resources as our operations scale,” Alphabet and Google’s president and chief investment officer Ruth Porat said.

The outlay “reflects our confidence in the strength of Malaysia’s leadership, its skilled workforce, and enthusiasm for digital transformation,” Porat added an event in Kuala Lumpur attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar said Google’s investment respects Malaysia’s resources and shows belief in its people. “Our nation possesses the stability, the talent, the ambition to be a premier digital powerhouse in South-east Asia,” he said.

Earlier this week, Google announced US$160 million in funding for shared water infrastructure in Negeri Sembilan, a state just south of Kuala Lumpur, to support its planned data centre operations while also serving local communities.

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Impact on Malaysian economy

The construction phase for the campuses is expected to contribute an annual average of US$1.1 billion to Malaysia’s gross domestic product and support more than 37,000 local jobs per year, Google said.

The facilities, once operational, are projected to sustain more than 9,000 local jobs per year, with wages averaging 45 per cent above the national median.

Google said it also plans to add more than one gigawatt of clean energy capacity to Malaysia’s national grid.

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“Google will also pay for 100 per cent of the power its data centre campuses use and the direct infrastructure costs required to connect them to the grid, while complying with all applicable local regulations,” it said.

On efficiency, Google said its Malaysian campuses will run at a Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.12 to 1.14.

Google also announced its plans for four new programmes aimed at upskilling 800,000 Malaysians over the next five years.

This development comes as the Alphabet unit joins other global tech firms in expanding in Malaysia, attractive for its relatively low cost and reliable infrastructure, and close proximity to business centres such as Singapore.

Malaysia has emerged as South-east Asia’s main data centre hub, attracting companies from Oracle and Amazon to Alibaba Group and ByteDance – all needing more storage and processing capacity as data-hungry AI services gain users. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG