GEORGE TOWN – Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has announced that two more Global Business Services (GBS) centres will be set up on the island, following the launch of Penang Development Corporation’s (PDC) second GBS building today.
He said Penang is looking to attract more GBS, local, and multinational companies (MNC) to expand high-value services such as robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, among others.
He said GBS @ Mahsuri was fully taken up even before the building had been completed.
“The digital global business services industry is one of the key contributors to our country’s digital economy. Approximately 20% of active GBS companies account for the total active MSC Malaysia firms.
“It is the largest contributor to the overall performance of MSC Malaysia, accounting for up to 50% of investments, 66% of exports, and 61% of jobs created.
“According to a recent report from GlobalData findings, Malaysia’s GBS market is expected to grow from US$1.3 billion (RM5.5 billion) in 2019, to US$1.5 billion by the end of 2024,” he said during his speech at the launch.
Chow said two more GBS buildings will be completed in two to three years, and they will be more than four times the size of GBS @ Mahsuri at 300,000sq ft (27,870.91sq m) each.
GBS @ Mahsuri has a net lettable area of 80,116sq ft.
Due to client demands and requirements, he said both buildings will be constructed in Penang – with one close to GBS @ Mayang, and another by the sea in Bayan Lepas.
Chow said companies are still renting office spaces during the pandemic, despite having their employees work from home.
PDC initially estimated that the space at GBS @ Mahsuri was enough to house MNC offices – due to rising market demand, however, it has restarted GBS by the Sea that was previously left on hold.
Chow said the private sector is also coming up with a similar model for Grade A office services.
Currently, Penang houses more than 60 GBS companies that serve their respective organisations’ global and Asia Pacific operations jobs.
The effort to improve the GBS ecosystem has resulted in the formation of GBS Focus Group Penang that is represented by state industry players in GBS sectors, key stakeholders from Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Outsourcing Malaysia, and with InvestPenang serving as lead agency.
Meanwhile, MDEC recently launched its Digital Investments Future5 Strategy, which is mainly a five-year plan focusing on five key thrusts that aim to attract investments and advance Malaysia’s digital economy in following the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint.
It is expected to amass RM50 billion in investments, with a focus on five key industry sectors, five focus technologies, five emerging technologies, and digital global business services.
It aims to attract 50 Fortune 500 tech companies to land and expand in Malaysia, establish five unicorns (any start-up that reaches a valuation of US$1 billion), and create 50,000 high-value jobs in the digital economy. – The Vibes, December 8, 2021
