Malaysia's six major government-linked investment companies have dramatically escalated their domestic capital deployment under the GEAR-uP programme, channelling RM20.3 billion into the economy during 2025—more than triple the RM6.6 billion mobilised in the previous year. The Government-Linked Enterprises Activation and Reform Programme, now in its third year of operation, represents a strategic pivot toward converting Malaysia's accumulated capital reserves into tangible economic capability and improved living standards for ordinary Malaysians. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, speaking at the programme's progress report launch, characterised GEAR-uP as fundamentally different from passive investment frameworks, describing it instead as "national wealth mobilised with national purpose" in response to persistent global economic volatility.
The programme, spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance and launched in 2024, aims to deploy RM120 billion over five years while simultaneously engineering structural reforms across Malaysia's economy. The six anchor institutions driving this effort—Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the Employees Provident Fund, Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan), Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, and Lembaga Tabung Haji—represent the accumulated savings and reserves of Malaysian workers, retirees, and service personnel. By deploying these funds strategically rather than passively, the government aims to ensure that returns flow back into the broader economy as employment, infrastructure development, and entrepreneurial opportunity rather than remaining concentrated within financial institutions.
Infrastructure investment represents a cornerstone of GEAR-uP's approach, with several major projects already reshaping Malaysia's industrial landscape. Google's data centre development in Selangor, backed by KWAP, will add 320 megawatts of capacity and generate approximately 26,500 jobs through 2026 and 2027, while complementary digital infrastructure projects in Johor under Empyrion Digital are proceeding in phases. These investments position Malaysia as a regional hub for data-intensive operations and technology services, critical as Southeast Asia competes for digital infrastructure investment against established centres in Singapore and developed economies. Simultaneously, Tenaga Nasional Bhd continues substantial grid modernisation under its Regulatory Period 4 framework, with investment rising from RM12 billion in 2025 toward RM15 billion by 2027, directly supporting Malaysia's ambitious renewable energy target of 70 percent installed capacity by 2050.
Airport expansion forms another strategic pillar, with Malaysia Airports executing a five-year, RM11 billion upgrade programme centred on Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The capacity expansion targets handling over 100 million passengers annually, reflecting confidence in Malaysia's continued appeal as a regional travel hub and gateway to Southeast Asia. These infrastructure commitments, spanning digital, energy, and transport sectors, create immediate construction employment while building long-term capacity for higher-value economic activity. The emphasis on infrastructure reflects understanding that regional competitiveness increasingly depends on world-class connectivity and digital capabilities, particularly as neighbouring economies aggressively expand their own infrastructure.
Capital market development represents GEAR-uP's second major thrust, with government-linked companies targeting RM100 billion in additional market value by 2028 and the broader stock market aiming for RM5.8 trillion to RM6.3 trillion in capitalisation by 2030. Specialist investment vehicles—Dana Impak, Dana Perintis, Dana Pemacu, and Ekuinas—are systematically moving companies from venture stage through growth phase, creating a functional pipeline for Malaysian enterprises to scale without surrendering ownership to foreign investors. Khazanah's planned Dana Ciptawan adds RM200 million specifically targeting Bumiputera enterprises and mid-tier Malaysian firms, addressing a persistent gap in growth capital for indigenous businesses. The MY Value Up initiative extends similar discipline and oversight to Malaysia's 88 largest listed companies, signalling determination to strengthen corporate governance and value creation across the entire listed ecosystem.
Bumiputera wealth creation has emerged as a politically and economically significant focus within GEAR-uP, reflecting both historical policy commitments and recognition that inclusive growth requires active wealth-building mechanisms. The programme targets ten Bumiputera company listings between 2026 and 2027, while the Bumiputera Champions Programme works to accelerate the scaling of indigenous enterprises beyond small and medium enterprise classification. Zakat Wakalah, an Islamic financing mechanism channelling religious charitable funds into productive investment, is projected to reach RM100 million in 2026 from RM28 million previously, creating an alternative capital avenue that aligns with Islamic principles while funding economic activity. These initiatives acknowledge that Malaysia's long-term stability and cohesion depend partly on ensuring that wealth creation opportunities extend across all demographic groups rather than remaining concentrated within particular communities.
Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan articulated the philosophical underpinning of GEAR-uP during the report launch, emphasising that capital alone generates no prosperity without accompanying employment, skills development, and fair compensation. The government-linked companies in the GEAR-uP portfolio delivered an 8.0 percent total shareholder return during 2025, a solid performance that validates the investment thesis while generating returns for the underlying beneficiaries—primarily Malaysian workers and retirees. However, Amir Hamzah stressed that ringgit figures matter far less than what those investments translate into: living wages that reflect productivity gains, graduates placed in quality employment, Bumiputera firms expanding to regional scale, and Malaysian supply chains that substitute imports with domestic production. This framing reorients economic success metrics away from narrow financial measures toward broader measures of household prosperity and economic resilience.
The external environment for Malaysia's economic strategy remains decidedly uncertain, with global volatility continuing to reshape trade patterns and investment flows across Southeast Asia. Prime Minister Anwar acknowledged this turbulent context while asserting that Malaysia's capacity to "hold steady through external turbulence" reflected earlier structural reforms implemented in 2023. The MADANI Economy framework—anchored on raising both ceiling and floor together rather than widening inequality—provides the philosophical compass guiding GEAR-uP deployment decisions. Rather than permitting capital to pursue maximum short-term returns regardless of social consequences, the framework insists that growth be broadly distributed and that investment create capability enduring beyond individual projects. This approach partly reflects Malaysia's experience with resource volatility and the political consequences of growth failing to reach ordinary citizens despite headline GDP expansion.
The programme's momentum is expected to continue into early 2026, with most major projects already in motion and approaching phases of maximum job creation and capability building. Google's data centre and associated digital infrastructure investments will accelerate employment absorption through 2026 and 2027, while airport expansion and energy infrastructure modernisation create sustained demand for skilled workers. The pipeline of Bumiputera company listings and venture-to-growth capital flows suggests increasing availability of growth capital for Malaysian enterprises seeking to expand without accepting foreign majority ownership. These converging initiatives should produce more visible economic impacts across Malaysia's states and among diverse demographic groups during the 2026-2027 period, potentially generating political dividends for the government while addressing persistent inequality concerns.
Government-linked companies and investment institutions have collectively committed to sustained capital deployment through the full five-year GEAR-uP cycle, with Finance Ministry officials emphasising that "everything since has been about delivery" following the programme's 2024 establishment. The focus on measurable outcomes—jobs created, wages paid, supply chains localised, firms scaled—creates accountability mechanisms distinct from previous state investment approaches that sometimes accumulated capital without generating corresponding economic activity. Success requires not only that GLICs continue deploying capital but that Malaysian enterprises, workers, and entrepreneurs successfully absorb and productively deploy that capital. The true test of GEAR-uP will come as the bulk of this RM120 billion flows through Malaysia's economy over the next three years and either catalyses enduring capability and inclusive growth or accumulates in corporate balance sheets without translating into broader prosperity.
