KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 4): Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be training 445,000 government officers on its artificial intelligence (AI) tools under its newly launched Semarak AI Malaysia programme.
Launched at AWS Cloud and AI Day Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, the programme — which also aims to help local software companies develop AI products and expand their businesses — focuses on three areas — AI Negara for the public sector, AI Ekonomi for businesses and AI Rakyat for communities.
Under AI Negara, AWS will invest in providing government officers access to Amazon Quick, an AI-powered workplace tool that can analyse procurement data, consolidate policy research across agencies and identify patterns in large datasets.
The tools will be made available through the National Digital Department's AI-as-a-Service platform, although AWS did not disclose the investment amount or implementation timeline.
GovTech Malaysia, under the Ministry of Digital, is also launching GovHub, powered by AWS's AI coding tool Kiro, beginning with a pilot involving 500 developers this year and targeting 4,000 by 2028. Kiro converts developers' instructions into structured specifications covering software requirements, design and implementation before generating code.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said developing local capabilities was essential for Malaysia to compete in the regional AI economy.
“For Malaysia to lead in the regional AI economy, we need a workforce and a software industry that can build, not just consume, AI technology. Through Semarak AI Malaysia, AWS is building on its RM29.2 billion commitment to Malaysia to turn that ambition into reality. This programme starts with our civil servants and students, and extends to our software companies so they can develop AI solutions that serve Malaysian businesses and compete across the region,” he said.
For businesses, AWS is working with GD XCHANGE, the solutions arm of logistics company GDEX Bhd (KL:GDEX), and distributor VSTECS Bhd (KL:VSTECS) to provide eligible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with six months of complimentary access to Quick and Kiro following an AI readiness assessment.
The collaboration targets 10,000 SMEs by 2028, with one retailer already using the tools to automate competitor-price tracking and demand forecasting.
AWS said Malaysian software companies using its platform increased their cloud and AI workloads by approximately 30% on average between 2024 and 2025, following the launch of its Kuala Lumpur cloud region.
In Sarawak, more than 20 software companies have graduated from the pilot cohort of the Sarawak SaaS Accelerator, a collaboration between AWS and the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation.
Meanwhile, under AI Rakyat, more than 3,000 polytechnic and community college students and lecturers participated in the POLYCC Agentic AI League 2026, setting a Malaysia Book of Records milestone for participation in an agentic AI competition.
AWS has also adopted Sekolah Kebangsaan Datuk Keramat (1) in Kuala Lumpur under the Sekolah Angkat Madani programme, with plans to upgrade digital facilities and provide coding, robotics and digital safety training.
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