Amazon Web Services targets 445,000 civil servants, 10,000 SMEs for AI adoption

KUALA LUMPUR: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is targeting up to 445,000 government officers and 10,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for artificial intelligence (AI) adoption under its newly launched Semarak AI Malaysia initiative.

The national programme aims to equip government officers, businesses, students and communities with AI tools and skills to develop their own solutions, moving beyond the initial adoption of existing technologies.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the initiative would help translate investments in cloud computing and AI infrastructure into practical economic benefits through higher productivity, improved efficiency and reduced operational errors.

"The initiative is trying to bring AI knowledge to the community and the business community, as well as the government," he told reporters after officiating AWS Cloud and AI Day 2026 here today.

He added that the initiatives complemented AWS's planned RM29.2 billion investment in Malaysia through 2038, which is estimated to contribute RM57.3 billion to the country's gross domestic product and support an annual average of more than 3,500 jobs at local businesses.

"For Malaysia to lead in the regional AI economy, we need a workforce and a software industry that can build, not just consume, AI technology.

"Through Semarak AI Malaysia, AWS is building on its commitment to Malaysia to turn that ambition into reality.

"This programme starts with our civil servants and students and extends to our software companies so they can develop AI solutions that serve Malaysian businesses and compete across the region," he said.

The initiative is structured around three pillars: AI Negara for the public sector, AI Ekonomi for businesses and AI Rakyat for communities.

Under AI Negara, GovTech Malaysia and the National Digital Department are launching GovHub, powered by AWS's Kiro, through the department's AI-as-a-Service platform.

The first phase will involve 500 developers in 2026, with the target of expanding participation to 4,000 developers by 2028.

AWS will also make its Amazon Quick AI assistant available to up to 445,000 government officers to support tasks such as analysing procurement data, synthesising policy research and identifying patterns in large datasets.

Under AI Ekonomi, AWS is partnering with GD XCHANGE, the solutions arm of logistics provider GDEX, and technology distributor VSTECS to onboard 10,000 eligible SMEs by 2028.

Participating businesses will receive six months of complimentary access to Amazon Quick and Kiro following an AI readiness assessment, enabling them to automate everyday business tasks.

AWS said one retail SME was already using the tools to automate competitor price tracking and demand forecasting, allowing it to respond to market changes within hours instead of weeks.

The programme also aims to strengthen Malaysia's domestic software industry, with locally based software companies building on AWS, recording average growth of about 30 per cent in their cloud and AI workloads between 2024 and 2025.

Separately, the Sarawak Software-as-a-Service Accelerator, a collaboration between AWS and the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation, has graduated more than 20 software companies from its pilot cohort.

Under AI Rakyat, more than 3,000 students and lecturers from polytechnics and community colleges nationwide participated in the POLYCC Agentic AI League 2026, setting a Malaysia Book of Records milestone for the largest participation in an agentic AI competition.

AWS has also adopted Sekolah Kebangsaan Datuk Keramat (1) in Kuala Lumpur under the government's Sekolah Angkat Mdani programme, which includes upgrading digital and STEM facilities, teacher training and hands-on exposure to coding, robotics and drone technology.