SoftBank, Grab and PETROS Sign Framework to Explore Sarawak AI Infrastructure
SoftBank Group, Grab and Petroleum Sarawak Berhad signed a framework agreement in Kuching on October 8 to explore phased development of an artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure platform in Sarawak, the three parties said in a joint statement.
SoftBank chairman and chief executive Masayoshi Son, Grab group chairman and chief executive Anthony Tan, and PETROS group chief executive Dato Janin Girie signed the document in the presence of Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg. The parties will work on a roadmap covering AI compute and services, advanced technologies, robotics, and local workforce and community development. SoftBank is to contribute global AI-infrastructure and physical-AI expertise; Grab its regional digital ecosystem and applied AI; PETROS its role in Sarawak’s energy supply and as master developer of the Kuching Low-Carbon Hub.
The statement ties the exploration to Sarawak’s Post COVID-19 Development Strategy 2030, Malaysia’s Ekonomi MADANI agenda and the Thirteenth Malaysia Plan, and to national connectivity work under JENDELA. It also stresses that the framework does not oblige the companies to sign definitive project agreements or to build at any particular scale.
What it means in practice
Sarawak is pitching itself as a place where power, land and state backing can anchor AI infrastructure, a story that runs beside OpenAI booking dedicated compute at Firmus Malaysia AI factories and Putrajaya’s planned national AI command centre. For Malaysian policymakers the practical question is how much of the stack stays local once SoftBank’s global network and Grab’s regional demand enter the design.
Power price, fibre routes and customer contracts usually decide whether framework agreements become campuses. PETROS’s energy role and the low-carbon hub brief matter as much as the AI branding, because hyperscale training loads fail first on electricity and cooling, not on press releases.
What to watch: whether the parties publish a dated roadmap, name candidate sites or power partners, and convert the framework into binding investment documents before Sarawak’s 2030 high-income target year.