KUALA LUMPUR – Despite a drop in the world competitiveness index, Malaysia has been receiving a lot of foreign investments, particularly in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) industries, said Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
Fahmi, who is also the government’s spokesman, said the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) will look into the drop in rankings.
Miti minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz has promised to elaborate on details of Malaysia’s position in the World Competitiveness Ranking released by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) today.
Malaysia has slipped by seven places to rank at 34th out of 67 countries in IMD’s World Competitiveness Ranking 2024, after ranking 27th in the index last year. In the Asia-Pacific region, Malaysia slid by four spots to the 10th position out of 14 countries.
Earlier, Fahmi witnessed a memorandum signing between the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and tech giant Microsoft to facilitate upskilling initiatives at EQ Hotel here today.
Later, he launched a programme by MCMC and Microsoft Malaysia, known as AI Teach. The two-day programme will benefit 1,600 people at several National Information Dissemination Centres across the country.
Last month, Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella announced that the company would invest US$2.2 billion (about RM10.5 billion) in cloud and AI infrastructure, a move that would boost the skills of 300,000 Malaysians. – June 20, 2024