Its chairman, Lee Woo-Hyun, said Malaysia has the potential to become a hub for RE projects given its advantageous position, citing its neutrality amid geopolitical conflicts.
“Malaysia not only has many advantages, but in terms of natural conditions, it is in an ideal location for high-end manufacturing for both solar energy and semiconductors,” he said during the Future of Clean Energy panel discussion at the KL20 Summit today.
Lee also singled out Sarawak, which has stable hydropower resources, providing excellent opportunities for manufacturers.
However, he acknowledged the challenges associated with transitioning into these industries, particularly in matching the required skill sets.
“There is difficulty in aligning human capital with the evolving needs of high-value industries such as semiconductors, where South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have traditionally dominated the global supply chain,” he said.
He pointed to the disparity between the skills possessed by students and those demanded by industries, which has led to a significant brain drain, posing a substantial challenge to Malaysia’s talent retention efforts.
Google’s Asia Pacific head of clean energy and power, Giorgio Fortunato, said the first pillar of its collaboration with the Malaysian government was the provision of skilling opportunities for 300,000 Malaysians by 2026.
He was referring to a memorandum of understanding signed by Google Asia Pacific and Malaysia last November to invest in the country’s digital competitiveness, including infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) innovation programmes.
He said Google was also exploring the potential of establishing data centres in the country.
“We want to accelerate AI innovation to boost economic competitiveness and develop cloud-first policies for the AI economy,” he said.
Fortunato also said the energy landscape is critical because of the growing demand for electricity.
“We need stable and reliable energy to operate data centres effectively.
“I think this is a really important issue when we look at how we operate data centres in different markets across Asia,” he said.