Oracle to Invest $6.5B in Malaysia AI, Cloud Services Hub

(Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corporation plans to spend $6.5 billion building a cloud services center in Malaysia, becoming the latest global tech name to invest in Southeast Asian AI infrastructure.

The US company will establish a cloud region in the country, essentially a network of data centers that provide services to corporate clients. That includes access to Nvidia Corp. chips that can be used to accelerate generative AI development, it said in a statement.

Oracle’s pledge marks the latest major outlay by a major US tech company in Southeast Asia, which is fast becoming a center for cloud services because of ample land, government support and rapidly growing markets. 

Alphabet Inc.’s Google said Monday it aims to invest $1 billion to build data centers in Thailand – on top of similar projects for Malaysia – while Amazon unveiled its own $9 billion investment plan in Singapore in May. Microsoft Corp. has also talked about spending some $4 billion building data centers and other infrastructure for the region.

Oracle, which is trying to expand its cloud infrastructure business globally to vie for a slice of the AI pie, didn’t offer timeframes or specifics on what it intended to build in Malaysia. The global market for AI-related products could hit $990 billion by 2027, as the technology’s adoption disrupts companies and economies, Bain & Co. estimates.

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