Sea Ltd, a Singaporean global consumer internet company, through its e-commerce platform Shopee, has committed to expand its investments in Malaysia, creating more than 2,000 direct employment in the process.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) of Malaysia said in a statement that Sea’s proposed expansion plans in Malaysia involving the setting up of cloudservices, data hosting and processing, as well as new logistics e-commerce warehouse.

The cloud computing project will be located in a three-storey green facility in Kulai, Johor, with 24 data hall suites, M&E rooms, office space, as well as storage and parking facilities, targeted to be completed by the first quarter of 2024.

Additionally, its Shopeee-commerce platform will also expand its footprint in Malaysia through a newly-constructed mega warehouse located at Bukit Raja, Klang.

The two-storey,1.4-million square-foot warehouse is an integrated hi-tech logistics park equipped with cloud infrastructure.

The warehouse will be among the biggest logistics warehouses in Malaysia. Both projects are expected to create more than 2,000 direct job opportunities.

Sea operates three core business across digital entertainment, e-commerce, as well as digital payments and financial services known as Garena, Shopee, and SeaMonday.

Shopee is the largest pan-regional e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

The investment decision for SEA was shared with the Minister of International Trade and Industry Zafrul Abdul Aziz, during his visit to Sea, where Shopee’s headquarters is also located.

The Minister’s three-day investment mission is in conjunction with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s first official visit to Singapore on January 30.

As one of Malaysia’s top foreign direct investment sources,the Prime Minister and Minister’s working visits to Singapore are of paramount importance to Malaysia’s continuous efforts to attract high quality foreign direct investments(FDIs)into the country, a portfolio led by the MITI and its agency the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).

“SEA Limited’s decision to expand its investment footprint in Malaysia clearly reflects its confidence in the prospects, as well as the operational and policy stability of Malaysia’s business landscape,” said Zafrul.

According to him, Sea planned FDI in cloud computing and hi-tech warehousing are set to create 2,000 new jobs for Malaysians which will also help the country upskill its human capital, while enhancing national productivity and competitiveness in the long run.

“We are also expecting positive spillover effects for our small and medium-szied enterprises (SMEs), corporates and the surrounding local communities. This includes local sourcing, vendor development and the strengthening of local industrial ecosystem particularly in the digital space,

“MITI and its related agencies will continue to enhance the nation’s business ecosystem toward ensuring that Malaysia will always be perceived as pro-business, pro-investment and pro-trade,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sea Co-Founder and Group Chief Operating Officer YeGang said this is a significant development not just for Sea but for the local digital ecosystem.

“Our aim is to enable and support the growth of the overall ecosystem, empowering more players to benefit from the opportunities that this [investment] will create,

“We are also committed to supporting the creation of more employment opportunities that will drive Malaysia’s economic growth,” he added.

To date, Singapore is the second largest investor in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia with a total of 3,475 manufacturing projects in operation with investment amounting to MYR96.36 billion ($25.4 billion).

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