Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priorities Asia Conference in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, December 1, 2025.
Akio Kon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Softbank Group Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he plans to invest $50 billion in Malaysia, Bloomberg reported.
According to reports, Anwar said on Saturday that Son had identified Kuching, Sarawak state and Peninsular Malaysia as locations for the investment plan after the two had a video conference earlier in the week.
According to the report, the country’s prime minister said the planned investments will focus on artificial intelligence, new technologies and data centres.
The planned investment comes as Malaysia aims to become an “AI nation” by 2030, with the government launching the National AI Action Plan earlier this year to strengthen the country’s AI capabilities and infrastructure.
Earlier this month, SoftBank signed a framework agreement with Singapore-based Grab and Malaysia’s Petroleum Sarawak Berhad to explore AI and digital infrastructure development in Sarawak, including AI computing services and advanced technologies.
SoftBank is not the only company making technology investments in Malaysia. Google announced a $2 billion investment in 2024 to build the nation’s first data center and cloud region, and Amazon Web Services announced plans to invest $6.2 billion by 2038. Microsoft also announced $2.2 billion in investments in cloud and AI infrastructure and other digital initiatives.
According to the Malaysian Investment Development Board, the country recorded data center-related investments of 385.7 billion ringgit ($94 billion) from 2021 to the first half of 2026.
SoftBank did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
