Jobs created not proportional to data centre investments, says Ramanan

 The human resources minister says the majority of jobs created in the sector are high-value and require specialised technical skills.

Research firm BMI recently said Malaysia has 125 data centres with 925.6MW of live capacity, 2GW under construction and another 3.1GW planned. (EPA Images pic)

KUALA LUMPUR:

The number of jobs created from data centre investments is not directly proportional to the value of investments announced, says human resources minister R Ramanan.

In a written parliamentary reply, Ramanan said this was because data centres are capital-intensive projects, with much of the investment going toward high-quality equipment, electrical infrastructure and cooling systems.

“The majority of jobs created in this sector are high-value and require specialised technical skills,” he said.

Ramanan was responding to Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PH-Bandar Tun Razak), who asked for the latest statistics on the number of high-skilled jobs created for Malaysians through data centre investments.

Data centre and cloud computing projects attracted RM95.8 billion in investments in the first half of this year, according to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).

Malaysia recorded RM385.7 billion in data centre-related investments from 2021 to the first half of 2026, reflecting strong investor confidence among global technology companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

Ramanan said the ministry, through Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd (TalentCorp), had identified 12 high-demand job roles in the data centre sector, most of which require specialised technical skills.

They include electrical and mechanical engineers, IT project managers, commissioning engineers, solutions architects, network security engineers, facility managers, data centre technicians, facility technicians and chargemen.

Of the 12 roles, eight require a degree, one requires a diploma and two require technical and vocational education and training (TVET) qualifications. Chargemen must have an SPM qualification and at least a B4 certificate of competency from the Energy Commission.

Ramanan said this showed that the sector offers employment opportunities to both university graduates and graduates of local TVET institutions.

Malaysia has 125 data centres with 925.6MW of live capacity, 2GW under construction and another 3.1GW planned, according to a report by research firm BMI.

Despite growing competition from Vietnam and Thailand, BMI expects Malaysia to remain Southeast Asia’s leading data centre market.

However, there have been widely reported concerns that the surge in data centre investments in Malaysia could strain water and electricity supplies. - FMT