Spending 2.1 billion US dollars! TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, creates an AI center in Malaysia!

Since ChatGPT swept the globe, public attention and discussion about artificial intelligence have continued to rise.

Many companies are also increasing their investment in this field, and this time, it is the turn of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.

According to Reuters, TikTok's parent companyByteDance plans to invest2.13 billion USD (10 billion ringgit) to build anartificial intelligence center in Malaysia.

This news was confirmed by Malaysia's Minister of Trade on June 7.

Malaysia's Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, stated that as part of the deal, ByteDance will alsoinvest an additional 1.5 billion ringgit to expand its data center facilities in Johor, Malaysia.

This move is of great significance to Malaysia's economic development. Zafrul Aziz posted on overseas social media that ByteDance's additional investment will undoubtedly help Malaysia achieve its goal of increasing the digital economy's share of GDP to22.6% by 2025.

Image source: Reuters

Why is Malaysia so favored by tech giants?

From a geographical perspective, Malaysia is located at the heart of Southeast Asia, connecting maritime and land ASEAN, and controls the Strait of Malacca. It is a hub for entering the ASEAN market and heading to the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand, with a superior geographical location.

In terms of digital economic development, Malaysia's data center business is developing rapidly. According to research by relevant institutions,44% of Malaysia's small and micro enterprises have adopted cloud technology. It is estimated that by 2025, the size of Malaysia's data center market will exceed 800 million USD.

A report jointly released by Microsoft and LinkedIn, "AI at Work is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part," also shows that compared with their global peers, Malaysian knowledge workers are at the forefront of AI application. As many as84% of Malaysian knowledge workers use AI in their work, surpassing the global average of 75%.

In fact, it's not just ByteDance; tech giants such asNVIDIA, Google, and Microsoft are also increasing their investments in Malaysia's AI sector.

Previously,NVIDIA announced a series of investment activities in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Since the end of April,Microsoft has also launched AI investment projects in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Among them, investment in cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Malaysia will reach2.2 billion USD over the next four years.

By May,Google also revealed plans to establish its first data center and Google Cloud region in Malaysia, with an investment of2 billion USD to strengthen the expansion of its cloud computing services.

It is clear that with the influx of tech giants, Malaysia is set to become an important global center for artificial intelligence and high-tech industries in the future.

By deploying deep artificial intelligence in Malaysia, TikTok's parent company ByteDance will be able to further expand its influence in the global market, thereby promoting the joint progress of global technological innovation.