Malaysia doubles representation on Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion list as AI infrastructure boom lifts local firms

PETALING JAYA (Aug 4): Malaysia has more than doubled its representation on Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion 2026 list, with 19 publicly listed companies making this year's annual ranking, as the country's artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure boom continues to drive growth among small and mid-sized businesses.

More than half of the Malaysian companies on the 200-company list have benefited from Malaysia's expanding AI infrastructure ecosystem, Forbes Asia said, highlighting how investment in data centres and supporting infrastructure is creating opportunities beyond technology companies themselves.

The publication identified Southern Cable Group Bhd as one of the newcomers to this year's list, saying the manufacturer of low- and high-voltage power cables has benefited from Malaysia's booming data centre industry, which accounted for 15% of its RM1.8 billion revenue in 2025. Forbes Asia also noted the company supplies the renewable energy sector, positioning it to benefit from Malaysia's broader energy transition.

While Forbes Asia said Malaysia's representation more than doubled to 19 companies, the publicly accessible version of its announcement identifies only Southern Cable among the Malaysian entrants. The publication did not disclose the remaining Malaysian companies in the material released on Tuesday.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, China accounted for the largest number of companies on this year's list with 28, followed by India with 27, while 60 companies returned from last year's edition.

Forbes Asia said this year's list was dominated by companies aligned with the rapid expansion of AI, with software developers and suppliers of semiconductor components and manufacturing tools accounting for about a quarter of the qualifying companies. Others were benefiting from accelerating demand linked to electric vehicles, renewable energy and specialised industrial equipment.

Among the companies highlighted were China's Guangdong Dtech Technology, which manufactures precision tools used in semiconductor production; Taiwan's Kaori Heat Treatment, a supplier of liquid-cooling systems for AI data centres; Hong Kong's Plover Bay Technologies, whose networking equipment supports mission-critical internet connectivity; India's Inox India, a manufacturer of cryogenic storage and distribution equipment; Japan's Japan Electronic Materials, which supplies semiconductor testing equipment; South Korea's Jeju Semiconductor; and Australia's Smartgroup, which has benefited from rising electric vehicle adoption.

The Best Under A Billion list recognises 200 publicly listed companies across the Asia-Pacific region with annual revenue of between US$10 million and US$1 billion. The companies are selected from a universe of more than 19,000 listed firms using a composite assessment of debt levels, sales growth, earnings-per-share growth and return on equity over one-, three- and five-year periods, alongside qualitative screens covering governance, accounting practices, management and legal issues.

Launched in 2002, the annual list has previously featured companies that later grew into some of Asia's largest corporations, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Infosys, Wipro and Geely Automobile. Malaysian alumni include IOI Properties Group Bhd and AirAsia, which Forbes Asia cited as past honourees rather than members of this year's list.

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