KUALA LUMPUR (July 17): The government will ensure effective usage of water and electricity in line with the increase in data centre investment into the country.

Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong said this is to ensure that electricity and water supply is secured and used effectively.

He said the National Investment Council had in June agreed with the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) and the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) that the improvement of data centre investment acceptance policy should be done based on several factors.

"Among them is to provide guidelines for power usage effectiveness and water usage effectiveness, as well as an adequate supply of renewable energy to facilitate the investment of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in our country.

"Miti and Mida were also directed to create a local vendor programme to develop the digital ecosystem as a whole," he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Shamshulkahar Mohd Deli (Barisan Nasional-Jempol) about efforts made by Miti and other agencies to oversee investments in data centres.

Liew stressed that there is a positive trend of AI investments in the country, with commitments from global technology giants such as Amazon Web Services, Nvidia, Microsoft and Google.

"Through AI-related investments, Miti and the government aim to develop a comprehensive digital economy ecosystem, and promote the use of AI technology in a variety of fields, including in the smart manufacturing industry," he added. 

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