Malaysia is leaning toward using Huawei Technologies' AI chips for a 2 billion ringgit (HK$3.87 billion) sovereign AI initiative despite opposition from the US, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The country is seriously evaluating Huawei's AI hardware as the backbone of the initiative, which is intended to give Malaysia greater control over national data, according to the report. It remains unclear how many chips the country would buy.
The chips under consideration are Huawei’s Ascend 910C, rather than the more advanced Ascend 950 lineup, which remains in limited production, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The Malaysian government regards any decision on the matter as purely commercial, Bloomberg cited a person familiar with discussions within Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration as saying.
Anwar has said Malaysia does not want to be merely a consumer of technology developed overseas. His administration is also encouraging local telecom companies to propose broader AI frameworks in partnership with foreign firms, the report said.
US President Donald Trump’s administration warned last year that the use of Huawei’s Ascend 910C chips could violate US export regulations, according to Bloomberg.
If Malaysia proceeds with Huawei chips, it would be the first known case of a foreign government officially choosing Chinese AI accelerators over American ones, the report said.
Bloomberg earlier reported that Huawei is also vying to build an AI data centre for the Egyptian government, prompting the Trump administration to work on a counterbid.
