29/01/2026

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THURSDAY | JAN 29, 2026

SMEs seen as key in deepening Malaysia-India economic ties KUALA LUMPUR: Small and medium enterprises should be a key focus in efforts to deepen Malaysia-India economic ties, as India offers vast market opportunities for Malaysian businesses seeking to expand overseas, said Asean India Economic Council chairman Datuk Ramesh Kodammal. He said that while large corporations have already established cross-border networks, SMEs require greater support to enter new markets, particularly India, which presents strong potential for trade and joint ventures.“When we are talking of businesses, the corporate businesses have already got their links, but the SMEs need new players, new markets, and India is a huge market,” he told Bernama TV’s The Nation: Diplomatic Dispatch programme. Ramesh said Malaysian SMEs can explore opportunities either through direct exports or by forming joint ventures with Indian partners to manufacture products for the Indian market. He added that SMEs often face challenges in understanding how to begin expanding abroad, but noted that various agencies and business chambers are available to provide guidance and support. “Malaysian SMEs are very fortunate that the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation provides a lot of information to them. There are also a lot of chambers of commerce that can advise SMEs, like the Malaysia India Business Council and the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce, and also various Indian groups who are working with India,“ he continued. He said closer collaboration between SMEs and business chambers is needed to help companies identify opportunities and navigate the Indian market effectively. Against this backdrop, Ramesh said digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are emerging as key enablers in strengthening Malaysia-India economic relations, particularly in supporting SME growth and innovation. He noted that digital investment is a major focus area, with both countries exploring closer collaboration in AI and related technologies. “We are looking at digital investment, and we are working aggressively to see that the digital council for both countries can be formed,” he added. Ramesh said India’s capabilities in AI could support Malaysia’s digital develop ment efforts, including interest from Indian companies in setting up AI training centres locally. “Malaysia needs a lot of ideas and support to work on this platform (AI), and India can provide it,”he added. Beyond digital cooperation, Ramesh reckons that the pharmaceutical sector also offers strong potential for bilateral collaboration, given India’s strengths in pharmaceutical manufacturing. He said enhanced cooperation in pharma ceuticals could support Malaysia’s healthcare supply chain while posi tioning the country as a manufacturing and export base for the region, leveraging existing trade linkages between both countries to serve Asean and other markets. – Bernama

Changing demands redrawing digital infrastructure landscape

Ű BY DEEPALAKSHMI MANICKAM sunbiz@thesundaily.com

reforms. This has allowed fiscal savings to be channelled back to the rakyat in a targeted manner,” he said. He added that long-term national frameworks such as the National Energy Transition Road map, the New Industrial Master Plan and the National Semi conductor Strategy also provide clear policy direction for in vestors. “These positive domestic factors make Malaysia an attractive destination for global investors, thus lending greater support to the ringgit,” he said. – Bernama economy priorities. This shift, he said, supports the case for more distributed data centres, countering concerns about overcapacity in markets such as Johor. “From a global perspective, Malaysia is not just serving local demand. Companies from Europe and the US deploy here to serve the wider Asia-Pacific region.” At the same time, he added, Malaysian enterprises can use this ecosystem to establish a digital presence globally.” On sustainability, Cheam said, rising energy costs, climate risks and investor scrutiny have pushed sustainability from a compliance exercise to a strategic differ entiator. “Data centres must be designed for energy efficiency from day one, with renewable energy, advanced cooling and climate-resilient architecture,” he said, noting Malaysia’s policy push under initiatives such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap and the Green Electricity Tariff. Equinix aims to achieve 100% renewable energy globally by 2030, a target Cheam said applies equally to its Malaysian operations. Across Asia-Pacific, the company plans to double capacity by 2029, with Malaysia among the key growth markets. Looking ahead, Cheam said, Malaysia’s ability to attract and sustain digital investment will hinge on how well infrastructure strategies balance scale, resilience, sovereignty and sustainability. “In 2026, resilience is the floor, not the ceiling,” he said. “Those who get infrastructure right will define the next phase of digital and economic growth.”

o Equinix Malaysia: Physical foundations that keep systems running are critical as AI adoption, regulatory scrutiny and ESG expectations grow

KUALA LUMPUR: Digital infra structure is moving from a back end cost centre to a strategic enabler, with power density, resi lience, data sovereignty and sus tainability set to define com petitiveness in 2026, according to Equinix Malaysia managing director Cheam Tat Inn ( pic ). Presenting Equinix’s digital infrastructure outlook for 2026, Cheam said, businesses and governments can no longer treat data centres as passive utilities, as accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), regulatory scru tiny and environmental, social and governance (ESG) expectations are reshaping demand for digital infra structure globally and in Malaysia. “Infrastructure is now critical. The biggest challenges ahead are not just in the cloud or the code, but in the physical foundations that keep digital systems running,” he pointed out. Equinix, which operates more than 270 data centres across 36 countries, positions itself as a global digital infrastructure provider rather than a hyperscaler, with its value anchored in inter connection and low-latency eco systems that allow enterprises, cloud providers and networks to connect securely. Cheam said one of the most immediate constraints facing AI adoption is power density, parti cularly in sectors such as financial services, where AI workloads require significantly higher rack densities and advanced cooling solutions. “AI-ready infrastructure means much higher power per rack and

more efficient cool ing, including liquid cooling,” he said. “Without this, even the most ad vanced AI models become ineffective.” As banks and enter prises in Malaysia accelerate AI deploy ments, Cheam said, power-density ceilings are becoming a bottle neck, making infra structure upgrades a near-term necessity

said countries are increasingly insisting that sensitive data remains in-country, even as organisations seek global collabo ration. “AI-generated and

major growth engines supporting growth: consumption, investment, exports and tourism. On fiscal policy, he said, the government has demonstrated policy credibility by following through on its subsidy rationali sation measures involving fuel, electricity, water and diesel. “The government has com municated its resolve to push through with its economic reform agenda. The government has promised reform, and has imple mented it in a way that does not affect growth. “The government has also stuck to its commitment to fiscal patient-identifiable data must be pro cessed locally, but insight still needs to be global,” he said, adding that’s where sovereign infrastruc ture connected to a global ecosystem becomes critical. He said Equinix enables organ isations to deploy infrastructure within Malaysia while maintaining private interconnections to global research and business networks, allowing collaboration without moving sensitive data across borders. Cheam also pointed to a structural shift in AI workloads, with inference and decision making moving closer to where data is generated, rather than relying solely on centralised training clusters. “You will continue to see large language models, but more inference models will be deployed closer to users for real-time response,” he said, citing appli cations such as smart cities, traffic management, flood prediction and financial fraud detection, areas aligned with Malaysia’s digital

rather than a future ambition. Beyond capacity, operational resi lience has become a baseline expectation. He noted that always-on digital services have shifted customer tolerance for downtime to near zero, while regulators are tighten ing requirements around business continuity. “In Malaysia, Bank Negara’s risk management and business conti nuity guidelines have effectively formalised resilience as a regulatory expectation, particularly for financial institutions,” he said, adding that cybersecurity and uptime require ments are also expanding beyond the financial sector under national digital and security frameworks. Another major trend high lighted was data sovereignty, especially as AI-driven use cases expand in healthcare, life sciences and regulated industries. Cheam

Malaysia’s growth supported by diversified economy, solid fundamentals: BNM governor

KUALA Malaysia’s economic growth outlook con tinues to be supported by solid fundamentals. “Our economy is highly diversified and our domestic demand is resilient,” said Datuk Seri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour ( pic ), governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). In an exclusive inter view with Bernama, he said Malaysia’s eco nomy and trade struc LUMPUR:

ticular sector, in dustry or product segment. “Even our export market is diversified. We don’t trade with just one country. We trade with many economies. No single country accounts for more than 15% of Malaysia’s exports. That shows how diversified we are.” Abdul Rasheed said Malaysia’s eco

nomic growth also exceeded expectations last year with its

tures are diversified as they are not overly dependent on one par