Japan’s SoftBank Group is discussing a plan for a $50 billion of investment into Malaysia, focusing on artificial intelligence and data centers, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in an Oct. 24 speech—setting up a spending plan equal to roughly a tenth of the country’s economy.
Anwar said he discussed this investment with SoftBank chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son during a video call last week, according to a speech published on Oct. 24 by the Prime Minister’s Office. “He said he had chosen Sarawak—Kuching—and Peninsular Malaysia to expand investment in what would be among the largest investments in the region, worth $50 billion,” Anwar said in Malacca. (Malacca holds state elections on Nov. 14; Sarawak’s state legislature was dissolved today, meaning elections must be held by Dec. 26)
According to Nikkei Asia, SoftBank is expected to contribute a part of the total investment, with financing and other partners providing the rest. Fortune has reached out to SoftBank for comment.
On Oct. 8, SoftBank signed a framework agreement with Singapore’s Grab Holdings, best known for its ride-hailing and food delivery services, and Petroleum Sarawak, the Sarawak government’s energy company. The framework sets out to explore the “development of an artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure platform in Sarawak, Malaysia.”
The Japanese company has pledged hundreds of billions of dollars to AI infrastructure projects worldwide. In March, SoftBank said it would channel $500 billion into a single AI data center campus in Piketon, Ohio, though it expects to share the cost with its tenants. A few months later, SoftBank committed 45 billion euros ($50.3 billion) to build AI data centers in northern France.
Bigger than everyone else
SoftBank’s planned investment dwarfs what other companies have promised Malaysia. Microsoft has pledged $2.2 billion for cloud and AI infrastructure; Google has promised another $2 billion. Oracle plans to invest $6.5 billion in the country; Amazon also plans $6.2 billion of spending by 2038.
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority has recorded $94 billion of data-center investments between 2021 and mid-2026; Softbank’s investment plan would lift that total by more than half.
Anwar is trying to highlight Malaysia’s attractiveness to tech and AI companies, in particular by highlighting the country as a neutral and non-aligned home for investment. Malaysia announced its AI Malaysia initiative in July, which aims to drive the Southeast Asian country towards becoming an “AI nation” by 2030.
The Anwar administration also hopes to climb the semiconductor value chain, shifting from assembly and testing toward more high-value tasks like advanced packaging and chip design.
The SoftBank investment could hand a win for Anwar, who has staked his tenure on economic growth and development since taking office in 2022. He remains Malaysia’s most popular senior politician, with a 52% approval rating according to a poll from Merdeka Center.
Malaysia must hold elections no later than February 2028; Anwar was considering snap elections in the second half of 2026 but is now reportedly looking to push them to the second half of 2027, following some losses in state elections and instability in his governing coalition.