Oracle has announced an investment of over $6.5 billion to open a new public cloud region in Malaysia, aimed at boosting the country’s digital economy and fostering innovation in artificial intelligence (AI). This five-year investment aims to strengthen the capabilities of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) in the country, enabling Malaysian companies to modernize their applications and migrate critical workloads to the cloud.
A Boost for Malaysia’s Digital Economy
With this new cloud region, Oracle aims to help Malaysian businesses leverage OCI’s high-performance AI infrastructure, allowing for the processing and storage of critical data within the country’s borders. Among the highlighted services, OCI will provide access to over 150 solutions, including Oracle Autonomous Database, HeatWave MySQL, Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, and the OCI KubernetesKubernetes (commonly referred to in English as “K8s”) … Engine. These solutions will facilitate innovation with generative AI and advanced data, supporting the creation of smart factories as part of Malaysia’s Industrial Master Plan, which aims to establish 3,000 smart factories by 2030.
Malaysia’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, expressed excitement: “We warmly welcome Oracle’s investment, which will especially empower Malaysian small and medium enterprises with cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies to enhance their global competitiveness.”
Expanding Technological Innovation
With this new cloud region in Malaysia, OCI will strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which will feature 12 public cloud regions. Garrett Ilg, Oracle’s vice president for Japan and Asia-Pacific, noted that “Malaysia offers unique growth opportunities for organizations looking to rapidly expand with the latest digital technologies,” emphasizing Oracle’s commitment to the country as a key gateway for its infrastructure in Southeast Asia.
Advanced AI Capabilities and NVIDIA Services
Oracle’s new public cloud region in Malaysia will provide access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure, such as the OCI Supercluster supercomputer, which will feature up to 131,072 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and liquid cooling options. Customers will also have access to NVIDIA services like NVIDIA AI Enterprise and NVIDIA DGX Cloud, enabling the development of generative AI applications. According to Dennis Ang, senior director of business at NVIDIA, “Oracle will enable Malaysian organizations to harness the power of AI to innovate and compete globally.”
Data Sovereignty and Cloud Security
One of the most significant aspects of Oracle’s new investment is the focus on data sovereignty, a critical aspect in the context of public cloud. OCI’s infrastructure will allow Malaysian organizations to keep their data within the country’s borders, aligning with local data residency requirements. Additionally, OCI’s sovereign AI capabilities will provide customers with greater control over the location and management of their data, an essential aspect for companies looking to comply with digital sovereignty regulations.
Oracle Distributed Cloud: Options for Every Environment
Oracle’s distributed cloud architecture offers multiple options to meet business needs, including:
- Public Cloud: featuring hyperscale regions that meet strict sovereignty controls, tailored for organizations of any size.
- Dedicated Cloud: allows customers to run all OCI services in their own data centers.
- Hybrid Cloud: provides key OCI services in on-premises environments through Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer and Compute Cloud@Customer.
- Multicloud: facilitates Oracle integration with other cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure, allowing customers to leverage services from multiple providers.
Oracle, a Driver of Innovation in Malaysia
According to IDC, the public cloud services market in Malaysia is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 27.2% from 2022 to 2027. Oracle’s investment supports this trend and positions the country as a hub for technological innovation in Southeast Asia, particularly in areas like AI and data analytics. Franco Chiam, vice president of IDC Asia-Pacific, highlighted that “the growing demand for AI in Malaysia increasingly requires data centers that can support large volumes of data and computational capacity to train and deploy AI models.”
A Strategic Step Towards Technological Sovereignty
Oracle’s new cloud region in Malaysia is a testament to the company’s commitment to the region and its vision for expanding innovation in AI and cloud computing. With this investment, Oracle aligns itself with Malaysia’s vision of becoming a technological leader in Southeast Asia, fostering competitiveness and enabling the growth of businesses and startups in a secure and resilient digital environment. This investment also symbolizes an important step toward Malaysia’s technological sovereignty, strengthening the country’s digital infrastructure and empowering its businesses to compete in the global market.
Photo and news via: Oracle