Bloomberg: Malaysia Considering Introduction of Huawei AI Semiconductor Products
According to Bloomberg (Japanese edition), September 7: Malaysia is preparing to adopt Chinese Huawei semiconductor products in its nationally led artificial intelligence sector.
This could represent a major victory for Chinese AI technology, especially against the backdrop of strong opposition from the Trump administration.
Malaysia is seriously considering using Huawei’s AI products as foundational hardware, with a planned investment of 2 billion Malaysian ringgit (approximately 7.63 billion Japanese yen) to strengthen domestic data management. The exact number of semiconductors to be procured remains unclear. An anonymous Malaysian source stated they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Huawei has been working hard to enhance the performance of its AI semiconductors. Despite U.S. restrictions, Huawei’s AI accelerators still lag behind American counterparts like NVIDIA’s products. However, with improvements in production capacity, Huawei is now striving to establish footholds in global data center markets—from Southeast Asia to the Middle East—step by step.
Meanwhile, Malaysian leaders emphasized that the country does not merely want to purchase overseas-developed technologies. Beyond any physical infrastructure Huawei might provide, the Malaysian government is urging local telecom companies to collaborate with foreign enterprises to propose more comprehensive AI frameworks.
If Malaysia decides to adopt semiconductors manufactured by Huawei, it would become the first foreign government to officially confirm selecting a China-made AI accelerator rather than one made in the United States. This effectively signals Malaysia’s disregard for U.S. attempts to gain control over global AI infrastructure.
Last year, the Trump administration issued clear warnings against purchasing Huawei hardware. Huawei is also seeking to build an AI data center for the Egyptian government, prompting the Trump administration to devise countermeasures.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs of Malaysia and the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for the National Security Council have not commented on the matter. Huawei representatives have also not responded to requests for comment.
According to an internal source, the Malaysian government has framed any decision on this issue purely as a commercial one.
It is reported that Malaysia is considering adopting the Huawei Ascend 910C instead of the more advanced Ascend 950 series, due to the limited availability of the Ascend 950.
Last year, the Trump administration clearly warned that using the Ascend 910C might violate U.S. export controls. The U.S. government is pushing globally for the use of American-made AI hardware to prevent Chinese-led AI data centers, a policy reminiscent of restrictions imposed on the telecommunications industry.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1875676554211339/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.