Tiktok plans to invest RM10 billion on A.I. in Malaysia

TikTok owner ByteDance has plans to invest about RM10 billion on artificial intelligence and turn Malaysia into a regional AI hub, according to investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz.

The company already has a data centre in Kulai, Johor, for its Malaysian subsidiary, ByteDance System Sdn Bhd. The company plans to expand the data centre with an additional investment of RM1.5 billion, the minister said.

He said ByteDance’s investment plans were conveyed to him during a meeting with TikTok vice-president Helena Lersch in Singapore today.

“The additional investment from ByteDance will certainly help Malaysia in achieving the target of growing the digital economy to 22.6% of Malaysia’s gross domestic product by 2025,” he said.