SoftBank chief Son selects sites for $50bn in Malaysia — Taipei Times

SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son has selected locations in Malaysia for technology investments worth $50 billion. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said this after a video conference with the Japanese investor, Taipei Times reports.

According to Ibrahim, Son identified sites in the state of Sarawak, including in the city of Kuching, as well as in peninsular Malaysia. The projects will involve artificial intelligence, new technologies and data centers.

Investment in AI infrastructure

The prime minister described the planned investments as among the largest in the region. According to Bloomberg, these investments could expand Son's presence in Southeast Asia, which is becoming an important hub for the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure, including data centers.

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SoftBank is already working on a data center-focused project in the U.S. state of Ohio worth $500 billion. The company also has a project in France whose value could reach €75 billion, or $84 billion. In Japan, the group's telecommunications unit is building data centers in Hokkaido and in the city of Sakai in Osaka Prefecture.

Malaysia's data center market

Malaysia is attracting data center investments from Amazon, Microsoft and Google. According to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, investments related to data centers totaled 385.7 billion ringgit, or $94 billion, from 2021 through the first half of 2026.

The country's government wants data center operators to engage local suppliers and for infrastructure to support AI adoption, the development of local innovation and the creation of jobs requiring higher qualifications. Malaysia has set a goal of becoming an artificial intelligence nation by 2030.