Pahang To Focus On Wooing Data Centre industry Investors

KUANTAN, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- The Pahang government plans to follow in the footsteps of Kuala Lumpur and Johor in attracting participants of data centre industry to invest in the state.

Pahang Investment, Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee chairman Datuk Mohamad Nizar Najib said this is because the industry is seen to have high potential and Pahang should not miss out on seizing the sector’s opportunities in driving the state’s economy.

“We will see how many investment proposals come from data centre companies, but the involvement of the Pahang government may not be as high as in the Klang Valley and Johor which have attracted between 40 and 50 data centres in each state.

“This is because we do not want the supply of water and electricity for the people's consumption to be jeopardised because it is understood that a data centre uses a lot of the two energies in addition to the necessity to have good fibre optic lines,” he said.

He told the media after officiating the ‘My Digital Tour (JSD) @ Kuantan and Pahang Technology Revolution Expo (TReX) 2024 here today. Also present was the head of corporate services of the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Amiruddin Abdul Shukor.

However, he said that MDEC has identified several locations deemed suitable to meet the conditions for the development of data centres in the state, among them in Kuantan, Gambang and Bentong.

"The development of this data centre needs to be balanced with the guarantee that the people still get enough of the basic facilities that are available," he said.

In the meantime, he asked MDEC to help the state government to attract more digital nomad workers (there is no fixed location to operate but they use a lot of technology and live a nomadic life with ‘workcation’) to choose Pahang to carry out their tasks.

He said Pahang has various interesting locations that digital nomad workers can choose as a base such as Cameron Highlands, Fraser’s Hill and Janda Baik in Bentong which indirectly help drive the state’s economy.

“Whether the individual is a digital nomad worker, digital entrepreneur, vlogger, TikToker or YouTuber, they can move and do work remotely,” he said.

Commenting on it, Amiruddin said MDEC is ready to help the Pahang government bring in investment from the data centre industry because it is one of the scopes under the agency.

“When it comes to investment, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) will come forward but MDEC needs to help because it involves our activities and ecosystem.

“Among the successful collaborations is the green data centre in Sedenak, Johor and most recently, we were asked by the Premier of Sarawak to help develop the data centre there,” he said.

-- BERNAMA