As economies deepen their reliance on cloud, AI, and data-driven systems, the digital world is entering a phase where geography, trust, and infrastructure matter as much as technology itself.

Decisions about where data lives, how systems connect, and who controls critical platforms are shaping competitive advantage in lasting ways.

What connects the developments explored across this issue is a growing emphasis on digital centrality. Nations and regions are no longer competing solely on innovation, but on their ability to anchor ecosystems and become reliable nodes for data, investment, talent, and collaboration. Digital infrastructure is no longer invisible; it is strategic.

This shift is evident across Asia. From national digital ambitions to regional frameworks, the focus is moving towards compatibility, resilience, and longterm capacity. Connectivity is being redefined and not just as an access, but as integration across systems.

At the enterprise level, the same logic applies. Cloud partnerships, AI platforms, and next-generation data centres are valued not only for their performance but also for their stability, compliance, and alignment with broader economic goals. As digital environments grow more complex, trust becomes a differentiator.

At the same time, emerging technologies continue to extend digital influence into everyday domains, from education tools to decentralised platforms, and this reinforces the idea that digital ecosystems are no longer peripheral.

The question facing the digital economy now is not how fast it can expand, but how well it can hold together. Cohesion is becoming the defining challenge of this era.

This is where the next digital chapter takes shape.

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LOCAL NEWS

■ Selangor updates digital strategy

■ Collaborating for power

FOREIGN NEWS

■ Reliable cloud partnership

The 30 per cent blueprint

Malaysia aims to increase the digital economy ' s contribution to 30 per cent by 2030

Positioning Malaysia at the frontline

Malaysia has developed ILMU, its first homegrown multimodal large language model( LLM), designed to understand and communicate in Malay, Manglish, and regional dialects

A connected ASEAN

ASEAN’ s Community Vision 2045 relies on digital transformation and connectivity