KUALA LUMPUR: The government has set strict environmental conditions to address concerns over data centre operations in the country.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the companies involved had all agreed to meet the requirements.
“Yes, these are the conditions imposed… and they have accepted,” he told reporters after attending the Mantap Malaysia Bersama AI programme, a Google event in the Universiti Malaya Chancellery.
He was responding to questions about whether companies were doing enough to address environmental concerns.
Earlier, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the government was seeking to ensure that the expansion of data centres strengthened domestic supply chains and created opportunities for Malaysian companies to develop capabilities and compete in regional and global markets.
He said Malaysia had approved 117 data centres with a combined maximum energy demand of approximately 23,500 megawatts (MW) upon completion.
Of the total, 55 were already operational, while the remaining projects were at various stages of planning and construction.
Johari said data centres were becoming an important foundation for the digital economy, providing the computing capacity needed to support digital services and artificial intelligence applications.