KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, has launched its first cloud region in Malaysia, with two availability zones in Johor going live this week and a third to follow. 

The company did not disclose the investment value of the Johor cloud region, but said it would be substantial.

Tencent Cloud vice-president and managing director for Asia-Pacific Bluefin Jiannan Zhao said the new cloud region will give Malaysian companies greater access to local computing infrastructure for AI workloads, data-intensive applications and other digital services.

Once completed, the cloud region will comprise three availability zones, all located in Johor.

“Malaysia remains a key market in Tencent Cloud's growth strategy across Asia,” Zhao told reporters at a media briefing on Tuesday.

“The new cloud region in Malaysia will serve as a critical node within our global infrastructure, enabling enterprises to scale locally, expand regionally and accelerate their AI-driven innovation,” he added.

Zhao said Tencent Cloud also sees Malaysia as a potential regional hub for its Southeast Asian operations, citing the country's technology infrastructure and talent base.

Tencent Cloud currently has 66 availability zones across 23 regions globally. In Southeast Asia, it also operates cloud infrastructure in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.

Prior to the launch of the Johor availability zones, Tencent Cloud was already serving Malaysian customers with services including live streaming and video-on-demand.

Tencent Cloud International and Malaysia general manager Nucky Fang said the company had seen growing opportunities in Malaysia over the past six months, particularly in financial services and among large enterprises.

“Especially in the last six months, we have found that there are more and more opportunities,” Fang said, adding that demand was coming from banks, insurers, payment companies and other large enterprises.

The company is also expanding its enterprise AI offerings in Malaysia, including WorkBuddy, its Agent Development Platform, and TokenHub, which allows businesses to access multiple large language models through a single platform.

Tencent Cloud also announced new collaborations with Boost and Genting Plantations Group Bhd (KL:GENP) to explore the use of AI agents in their operations and services. Its existing Malaysian customers and partners include Ryt Bank, YTL Communications, OpenSys Technologies and SOCOE.

Separately, Tencent Cloud is partnering with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to train and certify more than 1,000 digital and AI talents over the coming years.

The initiatives will include an AI and cloud innovation hackathon, a train-the-trainer programme and Tencent Cloud certification programmes to provide students and educators with practical exposure to cloud and AI technologies.