Japan's Softbank builds AI infrastructure in Malay... $1 billion invested

Japan's Softbank Group is joining hands with Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing company Grab and Malaysian energy company Petros to build a large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Malaysia.

SoftBank Group and Grab announced this in a joint press release on the 10th.

According to the data, the total initial investment of the three companies is $1.85 billion (approximately 2.48 trillion won).

Of these, SoftBank Group will invest $1 billion (approximately 1.34 trillion won).

The goal of this project is to secure AI computing capacity with a power capacity of more than 5 gigawatts (GW).

The three companies plan to carry out business in cooperation with large-scale cloud operators (hyperscalers) and raise funds using project financing (business finance).

By region, the three companies will invest $1 billion in Sarawak, Borneo Island, a key base, and Softbank Group will lead the project by contributing $800 million.

Grab will lead the development, investing $850 million in Peninsular Malaysia.

The reason why Softbank Group and others have expanded their investments in Malaysia is the high growth potential of the Southeast Asian AI market.

According to a survey by Google and others, per-capita AI usage in six major Southeast Asian countries is currently one-tenth of that in the United States, but is expected to expand up to 60 times by 2030.