Kuala Lumpur: Deputy Minister for Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) Liew Chin Tong said Malaysia’s status as a Tier 2 nation under the United States’ new artificial intelligence (AI) chip export restrictions is unlikely to affect existing data centres. .
He also said his administration would hold talks with the incoming US administration to understand the extent of regulation.
“As far as we understand, this has no impact on existing data centres. But what kind of impact you will have on the future arrangement, we will wait to see,” he told reporters at the CEO Series 2025 Rehda’s annual property developers conference today.
In addition to looking forward to engaging with the incoming US administration, the government will also engage with internal stakeholders, Lew said.
“Given that Malaysia is in Tier 2 along with many other countries, there are ways to deal with this,” he said.
The outgoing Biden administration has introduced a directive aimed at maintaining the United States’ leadership in AI technology by imposing a ban on AI chip exports.
Under the regulation, countries are classified into three tiers: Tier 1 nations, such as Japan and the United Kingdom, enjoy unrestricted chip access; Tier 2 countries, including Malaysia and Singapore, face some limitations; And Tier 3 countries like China and Russia are completely banned from accessing US chip technology.
The aim of the directive is to allow Tier 3 countries to avoid restrictions by using cloud computing services in other regions. To address this, US companies are restricted to deploying only 50% of their computing power overseas, with strict limits imposed on allocations to Tier 2 countries.
In his address, Lew said Malaysia’s industrial parks have largely become a real estate game, which is not helpful to the country.
With the rising costs of hiring foreign workers, he stressed the need to retain local talent.
“Instead of building CLQs (company leased quarters) for foreign workers, we want to see more decent housing for young Malaysian engineers.”
Lew said industrial parks can play a constructive role in bridging the wage gap between Malaysia and Singapore.
“Let’s say we pay Malaysians 50% of Singapore salaries, but housing in industrial parks is very affordable, it’s also about 2/3 of Singapore salaries,” he said.
The Rehda Institute CEO Series 2025 aims to advance Malaysia’s real estate sector and economy. The Rehda Institute said the conference discussed Malaysia’s 2025 economic outlook, the impacts of Budget 2025 on real estate and the economy, and the role of digital disruption in the construction and real estate sectors.
