Why the world’s most fearless investor wants to bet RM203 billion on Malaysia

In 2000, a Japanese tycoon, Masayoshi Son, approached a young man, Jack Ma, who was a former English teacher, with an offer of US$20 million. The tycoon, who would later become SoftBank Group founder, recognized potential in Ma, who would go on to create Alibaba. Today, Son's stake in Alibaba is estimated at over RM203 billion.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed that Son has plans to invest US$50 billion in the country, focusing on AI, new technology, and data centers. Anwar mentioned Kuching in Sarawak and sites in Peninsular Malaysia as potential locations for these investments.

Son, known for his bold investments that sometimes result in significant losses, is no stranger to taking risks. At the height of the dot-com bubble, he was the wealthiest person in the world for three days before the value of his fortune plummeted by US$70 billion. However, Son has bounced back and is now touted as Asia's richest person, with a net worth of US$97 billion.

His vision now lies in achieving artificial superintelligence (ASI) within a decade, a goal that requires enormous amounts of computing power, land, electricity, and water.

Son's interest in Malaysia stems from the country's potential to provide the necessary infrastructure for ASI. Malaysia has already invested RM385.7 billion in data centre-related projects since 2021 and has a state energy company in Sarawak ready to supply the power needed for such endeavors. Son has already signed a framework agreement with Petroleum Sarawak and Grab to explore an AI and digital infrastructure platform in Sarawak.