Malaysia to gain $3B in GDP and 26,500 jobs from Google investments by 2030

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has partnered with a local technology company to offer sovereign cloud services in Malaysia.

The tech titan expects its investments to create 26,500 jobs and add over $3.0 billion to the country’s economy by 2030.

“Our investments are designed to provide high performing and reliability, meeting demand for cloud and AI services across the country,” Ruth Porat, the company’s chief of finance said in a statement today.

Tech companies have been investing rather aggressively in Malaysia this year as part of its government’s broader push to position the country as a hub for generative artificial intelligence.

Google is building a $2.0 billion data center in Malaysia and has committed to investing another $1.0 billion to set up a cloud region in Thailand as well.

The Nasdaq-listed firm is making robust investments in Southeast Asia to meet the ever-increasing demand for cloud services and boost AI adoption in the region.

It has already trained 355,000 Malaysians in digital skills since 2019. According to Tengku Zafrul Aziz – the trade and industry minister of Malaysia:

Malaysia is already reaping the benefits of tech investments considering its economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace over the past two quarters. Ringgit is emerging as one of the top-performing currencies of Asia as well.

Is Google stock worth at current levels?

Google stock will likely benefit as the company continues to expand its global footprint in cloud services and artificial intelligence.

Analysts at Pivotal Research assumed coverage of Alphabet Inc today with a “buy” rating. The investment firm sees an upside in shares of the tech behemoth with a price target of $215 which translates to a more than 30% potential upside.

Pivotal expects accelerated growth in Google’s cloud computing and AI businesses and dubbed the current valuation as favorable in terms of risk/reward.

The Department of Justice recently called the company’s search business a monopoly but experts at the investment firm are convinced that a Harris administration will likely lead to positive developments on that front.

Pivotal Research hailed Google’s “very strong competitive position with a deep moat” in search and said the stock is worth owning even if its AI push takes longer than expected to reflect in the financials.

Plus, Google is now a dividend-paying stock that makes up for another good reason to have it in your portfolio.