Malaysia to Develop National Cloud Policy and AI Regulations
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Loading... - Yiyang Luo
- 09 Oct 2024
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Malaysia is set to establish a national cloud policy and introduce regulations to promote the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI), as announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. This initiative comes in response to a surge of investments by global tech firms in Malaysia, aiming to build essential infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for cloud and AI services.
The national cloud policy will focus on four key areas: enhancing public service innovation and efficiency, boosting economic competitiveness and growth, strengthening user trust and data security, and promoting digital inclusivity among citizens. Additionally, the government plans to establish a national AI office to coordinate initiatives, including the completion of a five-year technology action plan and a regulatory framework to encourage the adoption of ethical and sustainable AI within the next 12 months.
Prime Minister Anwar emphasized Malaysia's ambition to become a hub for generative AI, highlighting the importance of investments from tech partners in building a robust and secure digital infrastructure. He made these remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony for Google's new $2 billion data center and cloud region in Malaysia.
Google recently announced a multi-year partnership with a local tech firm to provide sovereign cloud services. The company stated that its investments in Malaysia would create 26,500 jobs and contribute over $3 billion to the economy by 2030. Ruth Porat, Google's President and Chief Investment Officer, noted that their investments are designed to deliver high performance and reliability, meeting the demand for cloud and AI services across the country.
Digital investments have significantly boosted Malaysia's economy this year, with growth surpassing market expectations in recent quarters and the ringgit becoming one of Asia's top-performing currencies. Google's expansion is part of a broader move by global tech companies into Southeast Asia, a region with a young, tech-savvy population of 670 million.
In a related development, Google announced a $1 billion investment in Thailand to build a data center and cloud region, aiming to meet growing cloud demand and support AI adoption in Southeast Asia.
