Malaysia Weighs Huawei Chips for Sovereign AI Project, Reports Bloomberg
Malaysia is considering using Huawei chips for its 2 billion ringgit (about $494 million) sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) initiative, according to a report by Bloomberg. This would mark the first time a foreign government has openly chosen Chinese AI accelerators over American ones. Washington had previously warned that purchasing these specific chips could violate its export regulations.
Faris Mokhtar, Mackenzie Hawkins, and Niki Koswanage from Bloomberg reported on the deliberations, citing sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. While nothing is finalized, the government is seriously evaluating Huawei hardware for the program. The specific chip under consideration is the Ascend 910C, which was singled out by the Trump administration last year and found to violate US export regulations.
The decision comes despite the fact that Huawei’s accelerators are currently behind Nvidia’s in performance. Malaysia, however, faces a data sovereignty issue with American technology companies due to the US Cloud Act, which allows US courts to compel access to overseas data held by US tech firms.
Telekom Malaysia, selected through a public tender, is a state-linked operator that already partners with Huawei and uses its technology in its cloud infrastructure, but currently employs Nvidia chips for AI computing.
The US State Department responded to the report, stating, "Secure technology is the foundation of a prosperous economy."