Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo.
PETALING JAYA: The Digital Ministry is confident of securing more digital investments in the second half of this year after the impressive performance recorded in the first half (1H).
Minister Gobind Singh Deo said Malaysia's total digital investment hit RM66.22 billion in 1H, surpassing the RM46.2 billion achieved for the whole of 2023, supported by the MADANI government’s business-friendly policies.
These investments came with the creation of 25,498 jobs in 1H 2024, surpassing the tally of 22,258 in 2023.
"Digital is an area that is growing significantly and is attracting a lot of attention. Moving forward, we are going to see a lot more emphasis being placed in this sector,” he told reporters after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between 42 Malaysia, a peer-to-peer computer science school established by Khazanah Nasional Bhd in a joint venture with Sunway Education Group, and MyDIGITAL Corporation.
Gobind said that to spur the sector and investment in digital, the Budget 2025 wishlist to be presented to the Finance Ministry will include tax exemptions.
"The question that was raised was how can the government develop policies around incentives that will actually motivate businesses to invest, so there are certain suggestions to be put forward focused on taxation.
"I think ultimately, it comes back to how fast we can get everyone on board because if you look at the numbers, the small and medium enterprises form 97 per cent of the industries of the country. If we are able to get them on board adopting technology in their businesses, you're going to see tremendous growth in the country’s digital economy,” he noted.
He also emphasised the need for further government and industry partnerships to hasten the national digital agenda, among others on talent creation, to support the fast-growing industry.
Gobind said tech giants such as Google, AWS, Byte Dance, Nvidia and Microsoft have committed billions of ringgit into Malaysia’s digital sector and will need a lot of skilled workers to support their operations.
The minister said MyDIGITAL and 42 Malaysia will leverage skill sets from each other to develop digital talent in Malaysia.
The planned initiatives include joint research and development, cross-border training exchange programmes, collaborative workshops and training programmes, and executive digital leadership programmes. - Bernama
