Gamuda strengthens ties with Google Cloud

PETALING JAYA: Gamuda Bhd is deepening its commitment to digitalising and redefining the construction landscape with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) through an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud.

The engineering and property development company said in a statement yesterday that it was strengthening its long-standing ties with Google Cloud to make enterprise-grade GenAI capabilities accessible and useful to every employee.

This will empower them to more efficiently and innovatively deliver engineering, construction and public infrastructure projects in the region.

Gamuda group chief digital officer John Lim Ji Xion said the group’s collaboration with Google Cloud was not just changing how its intrastructure projects would be built, but also creating much stakeholder interest across its projects in Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and the wider industry.

“Some of our clients have recently opted for our systems over their traditional ones, and by embracing technology, we’re also pioneering exciting digital career paths for our engineers,” Lim said.

Central to this transformation is the Gamuda Innovation Hub, the group said.

Gamuda noted that the long-term initiative would foster a culture of continuous learning and experimentation, inculcating strong competencies in Google Cloud technologies.

The Hub has upskilled Gamuda’s workforce, transforming a team of 50 engineers from traditional industry backgrounds into cloud architects, data engineers, software engineers and AI engineers, it added.

Gamuda saw its revenue more than double to RM2.8bil for the first quarter (1Q) of its financial year ending on July 31, 2024 (FY24) from RM1.3bil in 1Q23, as its revenue from overseas operations tripled to RM2.1bil.

Net profit for the quarter under review came in at RM195.04mil translating to an earnings per share of 7.26 sen.

Gamuda’s net profit for 1Q23 was RM1.17bil due to its divestment of its highway business, which resulted in a gain of RM1bil.

The group said its construction and property earnings rose 35% to RM195mil in 1Q24 compared with RM145mil a year ago, as revenue doubled on the back of higher contributions from overseas projects.

Looking ahead, Gamuda expects its FY24 performance to be driven by overseas construction activities.

The company expects a higher contribution from newly launched quick-turnaround projects or QTPs within its property division.