The new AWS region will allow start-ups, developers, and enterprises, along with the government, education, and non-profit organisations to run their applications and provide end-user services from AWS data centres located in Malaysia
Amazon Web Services to open new AWS region in Malaysia. (Credit: Paul Sableman/Wikimedia Commons)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced plans to launch an infrastructure region in Malaysia as well as make an investment of $6bn in the Asian country by 2037.
The new AWS region will allow start-ups, developers, and enterprises, along with the government, education, and non-profit organisations to run their applications and provide end-user services from AWS data centres located in Malaysia.
AWS stated that the new infrastructure region will consist of three availability zones.
AWS infrastructure services vice president Prasad Kalyanaraman said: “The new AWS Region reflects our deep and long-term commitment to customers and organizations in Malaysia, as well as our commitment to serving sizeable and fast-growing demand for cloud services across Southeast Asia.
“We are proud to support Malaysia’s digital transformation with the highest levels of security and reliability available on AWS cloud infrastructure.
“We look forward to helping Malaysian institutions, startups, and companies deliver cloud-powered applications to fuel economic development across the country and to spur job creation, skills training, and educational opportunities in the communities surrounding our data centers.”
The proposed infrastructure region will allow customers having data residency preferences to store their data securely in Malaysia while offering lower latency across the country.
Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said: “AWS has committed to the largest international technology investment to date in Malaysia, which will advance our Malaysia Madani vision of a highly skilled, innovative, prosperous, and sustainable economy.
“Bringing access to world-class AWS infrastructure, advanced technologies, and cloud skills programs to Malaysia will unlock opportunities for local businesses of all sizes to build and expand globally, cultivate a highly skilled workforce, spur new job creation, and deliver long-term economic growth.
“Today’s announcement is a vote of support for Malaysia’s leadership in the global digital economy, and we look forward to deepening our collaboration with AWS to advance our nation’s cloud-first ambitions.”
Overall, AWS plans to launch 15 more availability zones and five more AWS regions in Canada, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Thailand.
The availability zones place infrastructure in distinct and separate geographic locations, far enough to reduce the risk of a single event impacting users’ business continuity.
However, it will be placed close enough to offer low latency for high availability applications that use multiple availability zones.
In January 2023, AWS launched its second cloud infrastructure region in Australia through which it plans to make an investment of nearly $4.5bn by 2037.