New AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region Opens as Hyperscale Giant Expands Growing Reach

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region. Starting today, developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organisations, will have greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from AWS data centres located in Malaysia. As part of its long-term commitment, AWS is planning to invest an estimated USD $6.2 billion (approximately MYR 29.2 billion) in Malaysia through 2038.

The construction and operation of the new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region is estimated to add approximately USD $12.1 billion (MYR 57.3 billion) to Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) and will support an average of more than 3,500 full-time equivalent jobs at external businesses annually through 2038. These jobs, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and others within the country’s broader economy, will be part of the AWS supply chain in Malaysia.

“The launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region provides access to new and emerging technology for Malaysian entities and businesses of all sizes, boosting our country’s capabilities for digital innovation,” said Tengku Zafrul, Minister of Investment Trade & Industry (MITI).”

The minister added: ““This milestone is a significant step towards fulfilling the vision of Malaysia’s New Industrial Master Plan 2030 to build a highly skilled, innovative, prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable economy. We recognise the transformative power of digitalisation, cloud computing, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) as key drivers in Malaysia’s effort to become a manufacturing and services hub within Asia. As the largest investment made by an international technology company in Malaysia, the AWS infrastructure Region will help ensure Malaysia remains competitive on the global stage.”

“The new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region enables organisations across Asia Pacific to unlock the full potential of the world’s most extensive and reliable cloud, helping customers deploy advanced applications with a broad set of AWS technologies like AI and ML (Machine Learning),” said Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at AWS. “Malaysia’s rapidly growing digital economy requires access to secure, resilient, and sustainable cloud infrastructure. With today’s launch, AWS is proud to support Malaysia’s digital transformation and help accelerate its role as a regional hub for AI.”

With the launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region, AWS has 108 Availability Zones across 34 geographic regions, with announced plans to launch 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS Regions in Mexico, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.

AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region: Covering the World within AWS’s Reach

AWS Regions are composed of Availability Zones that place infrastructure in separate and distinct geographic locations. The AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region consists of three Availability Zones located far enough from each other to support customers’ business continuity but near enough to provide low latency for high availability applications that use multiple Availability Zones.

Each Availability Zone has independent power, cooling, and physical security, and is connected through redundant, ultra-low-latency networks. AWS customers focused on high availability can design their applications to run in multiple Availability Zones to achieve even greater fault tolerance.

AWS offers the broadest and deepest portfolio of services, including analytics, compute, database, IoT, generative AI, ML, mobile services, storage, and other cloud technologies. Customers from startups and enterprises to public sector organisations and nonprofits will be able to use advanced technologies from the world’s leading cloud provider to drive innovation, meet data residency preferences, achieve lower latency, and serve demand for cloud services in Malaysia and across Asia Pacific.

Customers and AWS Partners Welcome AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region

Organisations in Malaysia are among the millions of active customers using AWS in more than 190 countries around the world. Enterprises in Malaysia choose AWS to innovate, drive cost efficiencies, and accelerate time to market. Malaysian customers using AWS include Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad, Axiata Group, Bank Islam Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, CelcomDigi, the Department of Broadcasting Malaysia (RTM), GX Bank Berhad (GXBank), Johor Corporation, PayNet, and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS).

Malaysian public sector customers use AWS to help drive cost savings and better serve local citizens. These customers include Asia Pacific University (APU) of Technology & Innovation, Beeducation Adventures Sdn. Bhd. (BeED), Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE), Pos Malaysia, and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB). Malaysian startups and small businesses, including Aerodyne, Carsome, QRRA, and Tapway, are building their businesses on AWS to rapidly scale nationally in the Asia Pacific region and around the world.

Use Case 1: Bursa Malaysia

Bursa Malaysia, Malaysia’s national exchange, has recently launched the innovative Centralised Sustainability Intelligence (CSI) platform on AWS to support Malaysia’s transition to a lower carbon economy.

“Bursa Malaysia welcomes the launch of AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region as a positive step forward for the country’s digital economy, bringing continued innovation to drive capital markets growth,” said Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, CEO at Bursa Malaysia. “Our collaboration with AWS to launch a CSI platform gives Malaysian companies and their suppliers an impetus to standardise ESG reporting and decarbonise their supply chain. Cloud computing will continue to contribute to better sustainability practices among Malaysian companies and have a positive impact on the broader ecosystem.”

Use Case 2: CelcomDigi

CelcomDigi is a leading telecommunications provider in Malaysia using Amazon Bedrock to access a variety of high-performing foundation and purpose-built large language models, enabling an enterprise-wide AI sandbox for secure, rapid innovation across its consumer and corporate businesses.

“The new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region presents exciting opportunities for CelcomDigi as we accelerate our transformation to be a leading telco-tech company,” said Datuk Idham Nawawi, CEO at CelcomDigi. “With the support of AWS infrastructure and AI services to power our business support systems and consumer applications, we strive to improve operational efficiencies and deliver better experiences to our customers. We look forward to strengthening our collaboration with AWS, anchored by a shared commitment in driving innovation and building Malaysia’s digital ecosystem.”

Use Case 3: ELSA Corp.

ELSA Corp. (ELSA) uses speech technology and AI to help non-native English learners speak more confidently and fluently through its app, ELSA Speak, which is used in over 100 countries.

“Our collaboration with AWS has been instrumental in our work to help over 50 million English learners improve their speaking skills and has helped drive our global market expansion,” said Will Polese, Vice President, Revenue, at ELSA. “With AWS’s flexible configurations for compute, database, and storage of large volumes of real-time data, ELSA can effectively manage a surge in user growth and maintain high levels of user satisfaction. The new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region will further enhance our capabilities, enabling us to deliver low latency, reliable, high-performing solutions to our clients and end learners. AWS’s investment underscores its commitment to supporting the digital economy and our efforts to improve inclusivity through technology.”

Use Case 4: GXBank

GXBank is Malaysia’s first digital bank with a mission to empower every Malaysian to be financially resilient, and it will benefit greatly from the opening of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region.

“Building on AWS, we were operationally ready to launch GXBank within 16 months, serving over 750k customers with 13 million transactions in just eight months,” said Pei-Si Lai, CEO at GXBank. “We are delighted to welcome the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region, which will provide Malaysian businesses, entrepreneurs, and SMEs access to scalable and secure digital infrastructure to help them deliver seamless customer experiences. We are proud of our journey with AWS to help democratise access to financial services and foster financial inclusion across ASEAN, underpinned by advanced technology.”

Use Case 5: PETRONAS

PETRONAS is a global energy and solutions provider with a presence in over 50 countries. It uses AWS for new and existing solutions such as Malaysia’s first e-wallet (SETEL) for purchasing fuel and a cloud-based logistics solution and services platform (STEAR) for the offshore industry. The opening of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region will only help PETRONAS fulfill its vision and business goals.

“Digital technologies play an important role in all our businesses. Cloud services enable our work in artificial intelligence, IoT, advanced analytics, robotics, and data governance,” said Ir. Mohd Yusri Mohamed Yusof, Senior Vice President, Project Delivery & Technology, at PETRONAS. “AWS’s investment in Malaysia, like the new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region, will facilitate our data residency needs, improve performance, and elevate the country’s digital capabilities. I am excited by the possibilities this investment can create for Malaysia to become a regional leader in the digital economy.”

Use Case 6: RTM

RTM, the national public broadcaster in Malaysia, uses AWS to build and scale innovative applications for its millions of customers with its digital media delivery platform, RTMKlik.

“The launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region means being able to leverage AWS generative AI services like Bedrock to bring transformative innovation to RTMKlik and tailor our content to align with the viewing preferences of each RTMKlik user,” said Datuk Suhaimi Sulaiman, Director-General at RTM. “AWS has helped us enhance the inclusivity of RTMKlik, providing value-added services such as live captions to ensure our hearing-impaired audience can better understand and follow live broadcasts. Advancements like these elevate the user experience and help us engage with a broad audience. AWS has been pivotal in making RTMKlik a more dynamic, accessible, and user-centric platform.”

Use Case 7: TNB

TNB, a leading utility company in Asia, serves over 9.5 million customers across commercial, industrial, and residential sectors in Malaysia. In collaboration with AWS, TNB is accelerating its digital transformation to enhance customer experience and develop innovative smart energy solutions.

“As part of our 10-year Reimagining TNB Plan, we are collaborating with AWS to build digital capabilities and infrastructure that support decarbonisation efforts across our business entities,” said Azlan Ahmad, Chief Information Officer at TNB. “Digital solutions are key to modernising the grid and expanding renewable energy capacity, while also empowering our customers through advanced digital platforms. Through collaborations like this, TNB is driving the future of sustainable and efficient energy, ensuring we meet growing energy demands and lead the way in the energy transition.”

AWS Partner Network: Helping ISVs Worldwide

The AWS Partner Network (APN) includes tens of thousands of independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators (SIs) around the world. AWS Partners build innovative solutions and services on AWS, and the APN helps by providing business, technical, marketing, and go-to-market support to customers. This network is set to get an upgrade with the opening of the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region.

AWS ISVs, technology partners, SIs, and consulting partners help enterprise and public sector customers migrate to AWS, deploy mission-critical applications, and provide a full range of monitoring, automation, and management services for customers’ cloud environments. AWS Partners in Malaysia include Accenture, Aerodyne, Axrail, CelcomDigi, Deloitte, eCloudvalley, Exabytes, G-AsiaPacific, GHL, Kyndryl, Maxis, Radmik Solutions, Silverlake Axis, SoftwareOne, Tapway, Uberfusion, and VSTECS. (For the full list of AWS Partners, visit aws.amazon.com/partners.)

Enabling Malaysia’s Workforce with AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region

Since 2017, AWS Malaysia has trained over 100,000 individuals in Malaysia in cloud skills. AWS continues to invest in upskilling developers, students, and the next generation of IT leaders in Malaysia with sought-after cloud skills through AWS Skills to Jobs Tech Alliance and AWS Training & Certification programs like AWS Academy. The AWS Academy provides higher education institutions around the world with a free, ready-to-teach cloud computing curriculum that prepares students for industry-recognised AWS Certifications and in-demand cloud jobs.

AWS Academy currently runs courses in 49 universities in east and west Malaysia, including Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, that cover cloud foundations, cloud architecting, cloud operations, cloud developing, and data engineering, as well as specialty certifications related to machine learning, cyber security, and other domains. Since 2018, more than 25,000 students have been trained by the AWS Academy program.

In July 2024, AWS and PayNet announced Program AKAR, powered by AWS re/Start, a new cloud skills initiative in Malaysia that aims to bridge the growing skills gap in Malaysia’s digital economy. Program AKAR is the first financial services-focused cloud skills program that has been curated specifically for entry-level talent in Malaysia, and—through a 47-day training course culminating with the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification—equips university students with transferrable skills that can be leveraged for careers in financial services.

PayNet and AWS welcomed the first cohort of learners from Asia Pacific University in July 2024. These students will be given opportunities for internships with organizations across PayNet’s payments network upon completion of the program.

AWS is helping organisations such as PETRONAS accelerate their digital transformation through AWS Skills Guild, a consultative program that helps companies build an organisation-wide cloud enablement initiative rooted in skills application and community development. PETRONAS is training its employees on cloud fundamentals through self-paced, online training courses.

AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region to Help AWS’s Commitment to Sustainability 

Amazon is committed to becoming a more sustainable business and reaching net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement, as part of The Climate Pledge. Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge and became its first signatory in 2019. In December 2023, PKT Logistics Group became the first Malaysian signatory to The Climate Pledge.

In July 2024, Amazon announced it met its goal to match all of the electricity consumed across Amazon’s global operations—including its data centres, corporate buildings, grocery stores, and fulfillment centres—with 100% renewable energy in 2023, seven years ahead of its original 2030 commitment. To get there, Amazon became the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world since 2020, and the solar and wind farms enabled by Amazon stimulated billions of dollars in estimated economic investment globally from 2014 through 2022. Additionally, AWS is committed to being water positive by 2030, returning more water to communities than it uses in its direct operations.

AWS is constantly working on ways to increase the energy efficiency of its data centres—optimising data centre design, investing in purpose-built chips, and innovating with new cooling technologies. A new report by Accenture, commissioned by AWS, estimates AWS’s infrastructure is up to 4.1 times more efficient than on-premises. When workloads are optimised on AWS, the associated carbon footprint can be reduced by up to 99%.

With the new AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) Region, customers will also benefit from AWS’s sustainability efforts across its infrastructure. (For more information about AWS sustainability efforts, visit aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability.)