Data Centre Approvals Won’t Compromise Malaysia’s Energy Security - Sim
KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 (Bernama) -- Every application for a new data centre project will undergo a stringent assessment process to ensure electricity and water supplies for local households and industries are not affected, said Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Sim Tze Tzin.
He said through the Data Centre Task Force (DCTF), the government would assess each application based on investment needs, project capacity and various other factors to ensure the country’s energy security remained safeguarded.
“The government is always cautious when approving any applications related to data centres,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara on Tuesday.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Senator Susan Chemerai Anding, who wanted to know the extent of the government’s efforts to ensure national energy security and electricity capacity for households and industries were not compromised.
In response to another supplementary question, Sim said under the New Incentive Framework (NIF), the government would consider, among others, providing incentives to multinational companies (MNCs) that bring in high-impact technologies and develop local vendors, particularly in rural and less developed areas.
“The government also conducts various matching programmes between MNCs and local companies to enable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to become suppliers to MNCs, while encouraging the use of at least 40 per cent local content through the Malaysia Certificate of Origin.
“This will, to some extent, help local companies,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Senator Tan Sri Low Kian Chuan on measures taken by the government to help SMEs benefit from the spillover effects of multinational investments in artificial intelligence, semiconductors and biotechnology.
-- BERNAMA