KUALA LUMPUR: AIMS Group hopes the government will reclassify the data centre industry as a manufacturer to bring down the tariff of power for the industry which will lower the cost of operations in the 2018 Budget.

Group chief executive officer Chiew Kok Hin said these savings will be passed on to its customers, making Malaysia more attractive and economically viable option for global investment.

In order for Malaysia to become a World-class Data Centre Hub as per the aspirations under Pemandu Entry Project Point 3, it is necessary that this reclassification is awarded to the data centre industry.

Otherwise we risk losing our attractiveness in the global market looking to store their data in Asia,” he said in a statement.

Chiew said high operations costs continue to hinder the growth and lessen the attractiveness of Malaysian data centres.

Energy makes up approximately 40 percent of operation costs for a data centre. The current tariff is much higher than in Singapore. This has made us less attractive as the choice for Asia and has led to us losing out on significant collaborations with international brands,” he said.