Google will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to house the company’s first data center in the country, the government announced on Thursday, making it the latest tech titan to pump money into the region in search of growth opportunities.
The government said the money would support 26,500 jobs in various sectors in Malaysia, including health, education and finance, and comes days after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim targeted at least $107 billion in investment in the semiconductor industry.
Anwar said in April that he plans to build Southeast Asia’s largest integrated circuit design park, while offering incentives including tax breaks and subsidies to attract global technology companies and investors.
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent company Alphabet, said: “Google’s first data center and Google Cloud region is our largest planned investment to date in Malaysia – a place Google has been proud to call home for 13 years.
