The allocation will enable more industry players to benefit from it especially in accelerating their digital transformation. This fund is made available until 31st December 2023 as of the Budget 2021 announcement by the Minister of Finance, YB Senator Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz on 6th November 2020.
An economic recovery plan
Budget 2021 has been crafted for Malaysians with the theme of “Teguh Kita, Menang Bersama”. It’s an Economic Recovery Plan, centered on the 6R approach of Resolve, Resilience, Restart, Recovery, Revitalize and Reform. A total of RM 322.5 billion has been allocated by the government to attain its objectives which focus on Rakyat’s well-being, Business Continuity and Economic Resilience.
Chiew Kok Hin, Chief Executive Officer of AIMS Data Centre compliments the government’s effort with the scheme to fortify Malaysian businesses. However, he believes that the government should look into providing more incentives and exemptions for local data center players like AIMS. As data & cloud technology represents an essential part of digital transformation, it is imperative that the government should oversee the advancement of digital infrastructure and interconnectivity across the nation.
The strategy, thus far, has been to incentivize digital adoption amongst end beneficiaries like the SMEs, who make up more than 90% of business establishments in Malaysia, in order to transform the country into a digital nation. In addition to that, infrastructure providers should be incentivized as well so that both upstream and downstream can collaborate and improve cost savings for more effective digital adoption.
Strategic value-creation partner
He hopes that the government will consider looking into the issue of power tariffs. High energy cost remains a major hurdle for data centers as it makes up a large part of the operating cost. Lower energy costs will not only benefit end users like the SMEs, it also makes Malaysia an attractive hub for foreign digital investments.
Chiew Kok Hin, Chief Executive Officer of AIMS Data Centre said,
“This country has always been proud of its reputation as a business-friendly nation that is located in an area free from major natural disasters. We enjoy solid tech fundamentals such as strong governmental support and well-established data protection laws. Many major international enterprises have already established their footprint in the country, which has greatly improved our connectivity over the past few years. We believe the country is on the right track to become the Heart of Digital ASEAN.”
As a leading provider of carrier-neutral data center and managed services in the country and region, AIMS has placed itself on the global map as a strategic value-creation partner, opening Malaysia up to more connections and the prospect of establishing itself as ASEAN’s data centre hub.