GEORGE TOWN, Sept 13 — Malaysia is in a good position to achieve the RM70 billion digital investment target by 2025, in line with the country’s digital economy blueprint.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Malaysia plays an important role as a digital investment hub in ASEAN.
“With world-class infrastructure, a holistic digital ecosystem, and highly skilled digital talent, Malaysia can be a major digital investment destination in ASEAN,” the premier said at the official ceremony for the World Congress on Innovation & Technology (WCIT 2022) here today.
Also in attendance was the Penang Yang Dipertua Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Tan Sri Annuar Musa, Minister of Human Resources Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, and Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
Since the MSC Malaysia initiative was launched in 1996, the country has attracted digital investments worth RM384 billion and generated180,000 jobs as well as RM588 billion in revenue, according to the prime minister.
“After 26 years, MSC Malaysia has been rebranded as Malaysia Digital (MD). MD will transform the national digital ecosystem and drive more direct high-impact programmes for Keluarga Malaysia,” he added.
Ismail Sabri noted that although MD was only launched in July, it has managed to attract foreign direct digital investments worth RM42 billion in only two months.
“These investments came in via 28 foreign companies which are involved in data centres, IT services, technological creative content, and global business services or GBS,” he said.
Meanwhile, domestic digital investments have hit RM4.76 billion up to Aug 24, 2022.
“Through this effort, 6,000 high-value jobs have been created and it will continue to grow going forward,” the premier said.
The government has formulated a digital ecosystem to spur innovation through initiatives such as MyDigital, which includes the digital economy blueprint and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) policy, he added.
“The MyDigital initiative also supports the country’s development through the 12th Malaysia Plan to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation driven by digitalisation, and to be a regional leader in the digital economy,” Ismail Sabri said.
