He said the nation could leverage the downstream sector and not just the back-end of semiconductor manufacturing.

“Then, not only (do) we create a new high-value economic sector that serves our demand, we can become a global player because other countries will require data centres as well.

“So that is the government’s long-term view on the contribution of artificial intelligence and data centres to our economy,” he said at the Malaysian Economic Forum.

Rafizi said Malaysia is expected to be a global data centre powerhouse and is keen to support this through renewable energy.

He said Malaysia is finalising a fifth large-scale solar bidding round with the sixth expected not long after that.

“We should be able to allow renewable energy capacities to be scaled up much faster than what we have ever seen in the past.”