Petaling Jaya: As the US -led semiconductor chip restrictions are harassed and regional energy costs increase, Malaysia faces a decisive moment in its artificial intelligence (AI) and data center ambitions.
Industry leaders say that these global disruptions can either prevent the progress of the country or become very trigger which accelerates its push for AI self -reliance and digital sovereignty.
Woon Tai Hai, Chairman of the National Tech Association of Malaysia Research Committee, said that recently, American export curb on high-end AI chips like NVidia’s H10 and A00, has already affected AI-focused startups, research institutes and data center operators in Malaysia.
He said, “These chips are important to train large AI models and to power generic AI applications. Without them, we are seeing delays in deployment and increase the cost for local developers,” he said that he said that he said that Sunbiz,
While some companies are pivying for the old graphic processing unit (GPU) model or searching for Chinese-made options, such as Huawei’s ascending chips, infection is not comfortable.
Compatibility issues, software support gaps and geopolitical uncertainty make it a complex adjustment.
Meanwhile, the cost of electricity and cooling has increased, especially Malaysia’s high ambient temperature leads to the limit of energy efficiency in data centers.
Coupled with US tariffs on Malaysian exports and weak rings, Woon said, environment is rapidly hostile to small players. “This triple hit of chip deficiency, energy inflation and business pressure may force some AI projects to completely bottom or stop.”
However, Woon believes that this challenge presents a rare opportunity for Malaysia to re -prepare itself.
He said, “We are still an attractive option for Hypersscalers for Singapore, especially with the lack of land and energy,” he said, pointing to investments such as Google’s RM9.4 billion data centers in recent investments such as Google’s RM9.4 billion data centers.
He said that Malaysia could take advantage of the disruption that he can double home-developed capabilities, developing a new global partnership beyond the US-China binary and being a digital consumer can develop to a true AI contributor.
“This is not just a supply chain issue; it is a wake-up call. If we want to lead in AI, we cannot import our way to success,” Woon insisted.
University Malaysia Calonn Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Director Dr. Muhammad Akmal Remli warned that long -standing dependence on Malaysia’s foreign hardware, cloud platforms and proprietary models has become a strategic liability.
“The AI ecosystem does not just rely on talent and data. It follows the calculation power and now, Malaysia is not the owner of its compute Destiny,” he said.
Akmal called for a comprehensive localization strategy with adequate investment in basic AI research and development through universities, public research agencies and long -term national programs.
“We can’t just train people to use chat. We need to train them to make the next generation language model,” he explained.
Beyond research and development, Akmal proposed to create strategic hardware stockpiles and investment in alternative chip architecture such as Arcs-V, Graphcor and Tenstoren to diversify the US-made GPU.
“Waiting for the supply to return to normal is naive. It is structural, not cyclic,” he warned.
Akmal urged the government to a sovereign counting initiative to make a sovereign counting initiative, a sovereign counting initiative, Malaysia’s high-demonstration computing infrastructure.
“This is no longer a luxury. We need our own calculation backbone to support AI research, safe data hosting and digital services that cannot be outsourced,” he said.
While some pilot efforts exist, Akmal said that they are fragmented and low.
What is missing, he said, an integrated national AI policy that aligns research under a coordinated strategy, census infrastructure, develops industry application and talent.
He said, “Now, we have isolated efforts by Mimos, Mosty, Universities and Agencies such as Mranti, but they are not talking to each other. We need a central AI authority or structure to synchronize it,” he said.
Akmal also warned that Malaysia would eventually be high cost in manufacturing domestic capacity.
He said, “We are not only competing for technology, we are competing for freedom. Is about the AI race that owns future equipment, and we are still borrowing them,” he said.
Akmal believes that Malaysia still has talent, infrastructure and investor interest to create competitive, moral and independent AI ecosystems, but only if it now takes bold steps. “AI is no longer about innovation. It is about sovereignty, flexibility and relevance in a fragmented world.”
