Malaysia’s AI Boom Just Put 19 Local Companies On Forbes’ Radar, More Than Double From Last Year
Malaysia landed 19 companies on Forbes Asia’s 2026 Best Under A Billion list, more than double its previous count, with over half tied to the country’s AI and data centre investment boom.
- 19 Malaysian businesses made Forbes Asia's 2026 Best Under A Billion list, more than double the country's previous showings.
- Over half the Malaysian firms listed are benefiting from booming investment in data centres, semiconductors and power infrastructure.
- Forbes Asia evaluated over 19,000 regional companies, selecting 200 top performers based on debt, sales growth and equity returns.
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Malaysia just doubled down on the region’s AI boom, and Forbes noticed.
19 local businesses landed on Forbes Asia’s 2026 Best Under A Billion list, more than double its showing from previous years.
That puts Malaysia among the standout performers in this year’s ranking.
Tech Doing The Carry Job
More than half of the local companies on the list are riding the wave of investment pouring into the country’s data centres, power infrastructure, semiconductors and industrial tech.
And that wave has been building for a while.
Between 2021 and June 2025, Malaysia approved 143 data centre investment projects worth a combined RM144.4 billion.
By early 2026, the country had entered what analysts are calling a second wave of the boom, with hyperscalers breaking ground on new megacampuses in Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Johor.
Global tech giants – Microsoft, Google, AWS, Nvidia – have all poured money into the country’s data centre capacity over the past two years.
Take Southern Cable Group Bhd. It’s one of the list’s notable newcomers.
The company makes low- and high-voltage power cables – the unglamorous but essential wiring behind every new data centre going up in Malaysia.
Demand has been so strong that Southern Cable pulled in RM1.8 billion in revenue in 2025, with data centre-related projects making up about 15 per cent of that.
Joining it are AME Elite Consortium Bhd, ITMax System Bhd, Kim Loong Resources Bhd, Pekat Group Bhd, Solarvest Holdings Bhd, Time dotCom Bhd and UNited U-Li Bhd.
How Forbes Picks Its 200
Forbes Asia scans more than 19,000 listed companies across the region and narrows it down to 200 top-performing small and midsized names, ranked on debt levels, sales growth, earnings per share growth and return on equity over multiple years.
Forbes Asia said this year’s winners share something in common – they’ve navigated geopolitical tensions and volatile energy markets by planting themselves firmly in fast-growing sectors led by AI and advanced technology.
About a quarter of the companies on the list build software or supply semiconductor components and manufacturing equipment.
Others have ridden the demand curve for electric vehicles, renewable energy and specialised industrial gear.
China led the pack this year with 28 companies. India followed with 27. Sixty companies from last year’s list held onto their spots.
Two Malaysian names – IOI Properties Group Bhd and AirAsia – made this same list in earlier years before becoming household names.
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