ALSO PLANS TO SKILL 1 MILLION MALAYSIANS

Microsoft Corp. has just announced its plan to establish its first data center region in Malaysia, supporting the delivery of its cloud services in the country and foster data residency.

Microsoft plans to establish the data center region in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area and deliver access to the full Microsoft Cloud, which includes Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and its Power Platform.

The new data center region will feature Azure Availability Zones and will be powered by 100% renewable energy through power purchase agreements for green energy, which is part of Microsoft global commitment to shift to 100% supply of renewable energy by 2025 for all its datacenters, buildings and campuses.

“Today’s announcement represents a major milestone for Microsoft in the 28 years we have been operating in Malaysia. We share the Government’s commitment that digital transformation must be inclusive and responsible,” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

“As such, we pledge to empower 1 million Malaysians with digital skills, helping them to take advantage of the opportunities this new investment will bring. Building digital infrastructure is fundamental to advancing a nation’s digital economy. The upcoming data center region will be a game-changer for Malaysia, enabling the government and businesses to reimagine and transform their operations, to the benefit of all citizens.”

The Malaysian cloud region is part of Microsoft’s “Bersama Malaysia” (Together with Malaysia) initiative, which marks its commitment to empower Malaysia’s inclusive digital economy and advance the nation’s digital transformation across the private and public sectors.

“As we cement the Microsoft partnership today, I hope this is just the first green shoots of a broader meadow of investments in Malaysia, for Microsoft and other data players. This significant investment from Microsoft further fortifies Malaysia’s position as a potential regional data hub and we stand ever ready to welcome more [of] such partners as we work with our stakeholders to continually improve Malaysia’s value proposition in this big data space,” said YAB Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Microsoft also announced plans to skill an additional 1 million Malaysians by the end of 2023 to help create economic opportunities for people and businesses in the digital era. Furthermore, the company plans to help form the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council to collaborate on cloud-first and digital-native policy recommendations.

Microsoft, together with its local partner Enfrasys Solutions, has also been appointed by the Malaysian Administrative Modernization and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) to provide cloud services to the Malaysian public sector agencies through 2023.