Grab, SoftBank, Petros plan US$1.9 billion initial investment in Malaysia AI infrastructure

[SINGAPORE] Grab and SoftBank have inked a deal with Petroleum Sarawak (Petros) to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in Malaysia, with a proposed initial seed capital of US$1.85 billion.

Under the agreement announced on Tuesday (Nov 10), SoftBank will contribute US$1 billion in investments; Grab will put in US$750 million and Petros, US$100 million.

The investment will be “deployed in stages subject to achieving key development and customer contract milestones”.

Grab, SoftBank and Petros said they will also seek additional investors and hyperscaler customers to support the project’s development and expansion.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, said the partnership will “build the capacity needed to support Malaysia’s digital ambitions and accelerate AI innovation across South-east Asia”.

The latest deal follows a separate agreement among the three parties on Monday, for developments in Sarawak.

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The proposed initial investment into the Sarawak project is slated to be US$1 billion, comprising US$800 million from Softbank, US$100 million from Grab and US$100 million from Petros.

Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan is expected to oversee the development of both projects and appoint teams to run day-to-day operations. Grab’s board “has reviewed and approved his affiliation with the projects”.

As part of the agreement, Softbank has agreed in principle to a five-year lock-up of its Grab shares.

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The projects will align with Malaysia’s National AI Action Plan, which aims to position the country as a sustainable AI Nation, and Sarawak’s long-term development aspiration under Development Strategy 2030.

The facilities will operate in line with Malaysia’s renewable energy use guidelines and will be designed to reduce water use and reliance on local power grids.

These investments are part of a multi-year plan to develop AI capacity in Sarawak and peninsular Malaysia, with a long-term target of five gigawatts or more.

Other areas of interest will be explored, including advanced manufacturing in Malaysia.

Citi analyst Alicia Yap said in a Tuesday report that this is a potential expansion into high-return-on-investment compute assets.

Having future phased capital deployment supported by third-party equity and non-recourse project-level financing shows consideration of balance sheet exposure, she noted.

She added that Grab is well-positioned in regional AI adoption and long-term monetisation. These assets should be attractive to US frontier labs and hyperscalers due to low latency, cost-effective advantages and supportive policies as agentic AI adoption accelerates in South-east Asia.

“Importantly, the joint venture deepens ties with SoftBank, securing a five-year lockup on SoftBank’s about-10 per cent Grab stake.”