This has also led to the creation of close to 10,000 jobs, the communications and multimedia ministry said in a statement issued today.

According to the statement, the investments, from both domestic and foreign sources, had been driven by MDEC and the ministry as part of a national effort to make Malaysia the digital hub of Asean.

Ultimately, the objective is to accelerate economic recovery from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa said this indicated that Malaysia is on track to achieve its target of RM70 billion of investments in the digital economy by 2025 under the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital).

Investments in the digital economy has become a key aspect of Malaysia’s economic recovery plan given that they help to accelerate innovation that will boost the country’s digital economy and firmly establish it as a digital nation, Annuar said.

The investments already secured are from 53 fast-growing and industry leading companies from Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, the Netherlands, UK and the US.

Most of these companies are in the digital services and infrastructure sector while the others are in digital finance, digital cities, digital health, digital trade and digital content.

Among the big names are Aerodyne Group, Daythree Business Services Sdn Bhd, CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd and TMF Regional Delivery Centre Sdn Bhd.