Microsoft upbeat on IT growth in Malaysia

Information technology (IT) will be among the strongest catalyst in assisting Malaysia achieve a per capita income of US$15,000 by 2020, says Microsoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd's managing director, Ananth Lazarus.

"We are very excited with the growth of IT in Malaysia, and see vast opportunities for it to grow even more, in the coming years," he told reporters after Microsoft's second annual Accelerating Asia Pacific Summit today.

He also said Microsoft Malaysia is confident that the contribution of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) will rise to 41 per cent by 2020 from the current 32 per cent.

"Microsoft is very committed to its growth here in Malaysia, and to date, we have built an ecosystem of 5,000 partners.

"According to the International Data Corporation, for every US$1 that Microsoft earns in revenue in Malaysia, US$13.39 is generated for the local ICT industry," he added.

Ananth said Microsoft Malaysia has established two Microsoft Innovation Centres in the country, namely in the Malaysian Institute Of Microelectronic Systems Bhd (MIMOS) and Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC), to help Malaysian technopreneurs accelerate technology commercialisation.

"Furthermore, our BizSpark programme supports over 120 companies by giving them free software for the first two years as they start their businesses.

"The BizSpark programme also helps build capacity in growth amongst the Malaysian technopreneurs," he added. -- Bernama