August 11, 2025
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia is well on track to becoming a regional hub for high-tech, environmentally sustainable data centres, with the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) providing key momentum to ongoing digitalisation efforts, says Gobind Singh Deo.
The Digital Minister described 13MP as “timely and critical” in strengthening Malaysia’s role in the regional digital economy.
He noted that plans include attracting investments, developing infrastructure, and nurturing talent to support the country’s digital transformation.
“It complements the ongoing efforts by the Madani government as part of our digital transformation agenda.
“The goal is clear: for Malaysia to become a regional hub for high-tech, eco-friendly data centres,” Gobind said in his keynote address at the CloudTech & DataCentre Conference 2.0 recently.
He emphasised that cloud infrastructure would be essential to Malaysia’s 5G rollout, enabling transformative applications such as smart cities, precision healthcare and autonomous mobility.
“To unlock the true potential of 5G, we need ultra-low latency, secure and scalable data centres. We are not waiting for the future; we are actively building these capabilities now.”
Gobind also revealed that between 2021 and 2023, Malaysia approved RM114.7bil in data centre and cloud service-related investments, creating more than 2,300 high-value jobs.
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to achieving the RM3.6bil revenue target for the data centre industry by 2025.
Gobind also addressed concerns about the environmental impact of data centres, acknowledging their energy-intensive nature.
He assured the public that the government would improve its efforts to improve environmental sustainability.
“As our digital infrastructure expands, so must our commitment to environmental sustainability. It is not simply about lowering emissions but about raising our standards.
“This is why we must push for more green and sustainable infrastructure, such as by leveraging better energy efficiency practices, renewable energy and intelligent cooling technologies.”
Gobind outlined three key pillars needed to build a future-ready digital ecosystem for the people, namely infrastructure, security and trust, and talent.
“Connectivity is where it all begins as once you have infrastructure like 5G in place, the next step is preparing the country to leverage new technologies, and that starts with data.
“To use data effectively, we need computing power and that’s where building data centres are key,” he said.
Touching on talent, Gobind stressed the need to go beyond just education at schools.
He said in order for people to be able to adopt a new digital-based ecosystem, they must first be convinced of its safety.
“It’s about awareness, training, upskilling and reskilling the current workforce so they can use new technologies to empower themselves,” Gobind added.
He said this is especially true for jobs affected by artificial intelligence (AI), adding that those affected should be trained and ready to move to new areas if needed.
Gobind expressed hope that the CloudTech & DataCentre Conference 2.0 would open new pathways for digital growth.
“Whatever we do must eventually benefit the rakyat and our beloved country,” he said.
Organised by Star Media Group, the conference was held for two days from Aug 6, with the aim to bring national leaders in the data centre industry together to discuss the next digital step forward for the country.
The event featured a host of speakers from various backgrounds, covering many topics over the future of AI in the data centre industry, among others.
The gold sponsor of the conference was ABB Malaysia.