The setting up of a new data centre campus in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, reflects the winning formula of digital partnerships, showcasing the strong digital economic ties enjoyed by Malaysia and Singapore.
The latest collaboration between companies from the two nations – Telekom Malaysia and Singtel’s Nxera – will see the first phase capacity of the 64MW sustainable, hyper-connected, artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data centre campus to be completed in 2026.
Malaysia’s Digital Minister, Gobind Singh Deo, was joined by Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Low Yen Ling, at the ground-breaking ceremony of the new campus yesterday.
Gobind said the investment by TM and Nxera reinforces Malaysia’s position as the digital hub in Southeast Asia, further advancing the nation’s economic growth. Such a partnership makes a great case study for nations in Southeast Asia.
He added, based on advanced estimates, Malaysia’s economy expanded by 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, and such numbers were in line with projections that Malaysia’s digital economy will contribute 25.5 per cent to the nation’s GDP by 2025.
Earlier this year, Malaysia and Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ). Digital economy is one of the proposed sectors of focus for the new economic zone.
Key findings from the JS-SEZ Singapore Business Working Group’s (SBWG) report, titled ‘Greater Together: Two Economies, One Ecosystem,’ revealed 93 per cent of respondents considered Johor an appealing investment destination, with half of them already operating in the state.
‘Those responsible for IT outage should consider claims by affected parties’
Gobind, during a press conference at his ministry in Putrajaya on July 24, said parties responsible for the recent global tech outage following a software update by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, should consider the claims put forward by those who suffered losses in the incident.
Several sectors – from aviation to banking and healthcare – were badly impacted by the outage last week, prompting calls for legal action.
Capital A Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said his airline was affected by the outage and that his company deserved to be compensated for their losses. The outage resulted in massive flight delays, with travellers missing their flights.
“I’ve spoken to Tony. I’ve also spoken to Microsoft and I’m waiting for a full report on the matter. As for the claims made by Tony, we have to hear from them (those who suffered losses). We will look into this and see how we can assist, as well,” Gobind said.
Five govt agencies hit by CrowdStrike ‘bug’
At the same press conference, Gobind said 14 Malaysian organisations, including five government agencies, were hit by the IT outage.
The government agencies were the Transport Ministry, Education Ministry, Rural and Regional Development Ministry, National Institutes of Health, and the Kedah Zakat Board. The nine private companies impacted were from the aviation, banking, and healthcare sectors.
Separately, CrowdStrike said that the outage was “due to a bug in the content validator, one of two (updates) passed validation despite containing problematic content data.”
The cybersecurity company added the glitch was pushed out to millions of Windows computers, and that the company will change the way it handles such updates in the future.
Meeting local gaming artists
On July 23, Gobind met representatives from PlayStation Malaysia at PlayStation Studios Malaysia. The discussions zoomed into the company’s strategy in developing its creative arts division, empowering local talents, and upgrading infrastructure.
The majority of the 78 staff at PlayStation Studios Malaysia are locals. They had contributed to the development of several iconic games, such as Marvel’s ‘SpiderMan 2’ and ‘Last of Us Part II Remastered’.
