by RAHIMI YUNUS/ pic by BLOOMBERG 

Microsoft Corp announced US$1 billion (RM4 billion) digital initiatives with Malaysia over the next five years including the setting up of first datacenter region in the country.

The commitment, called “Bersama Malaysia” (Together with Malaysia), will establish the datacenter region in Greater Klang Valley comprising a set of datacenters deployed within a latency-defined perimeter and connected through a dedicated regional low-latency network.

Bersama Malaysia Initiative also includes Microsoft’s plans to skill one million Malaysians by December 2023 to create opportunities in the digital economy.

Microsoft is also appointed as cloud service provider to the Malaysian government.

Microsoft’s investment in Malaysia is expected to generate up to US$4.6 billion in new revenues for the country’s ecosystem of local partners and cloud-consuming customers over the next four years, according to IDC’s research.

The research also estimated Microsoft, its partners and cloud-using customers will contribute over 19,000 new direct and indirect jobs.

“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 such partnership as we work with our stakeholders to continually improve Malaysia’s value proposition in this big data space,” Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said at the launch in Putrajaya today.