Malaysia Verifies Chinese Enterprises Using Local Data Centers to Train AI Models

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian government said on the 19th that it is "verifying" reports about Chinese enterprises bypassing U.S. semiconductor restrictions through Malaysia.

According to an investigative report by The Wall Street Journal last week, some Chinese engineers carried hard drives containing data to Malaysia in March and built artificial intelligence models at a Malaysian data center equipped with advanced Nvidia chips.

The report cited知情 sources as saying that these Chinese engineers planned to bring the trained artificial intelligence models back to China to circumvent U.S. export restrictions on advanced chips. In other words, Chinese enterprises are utilizing the high-performance computing resources of Malaysian data centers to complete AI model training via remote access. This operation is considered a new strategy adopted by China's semiconductor industry to bypass U.S. sanctions.

In a statement released on the 19th, the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) mentioned this report and stated that it is "still verifying the matter with relevant agencies to determine if any laws or regulations have been violated."

The department said that although servers using Nvidia chips and artificial intelligence are not controlled goods under Malaysian law, Malaysia "will cooperate with any government that needs assistance in regulating sensitive commodity trade under its national export control."

The statement also noted that Malaysian data centers "can freely make their own commercial decisions," but added that any individual or enterprise bypassing export controls is illegal.

Specific advanced chips, including those from U.S. tech giant Nvidia, are subject to U.S. export controls aimed at restricting China's access to advanced technologies. In October last year, the U.S. Commerce Department announced stricter restrictions on the export of high-performance AI chips to China, including Nvidia's H100 and A100 series chips.

In its statement, the Malaysian government emphasized that as an open economy, Malaysia welcomes investment from companies around the world, but all business activities must comply with international regulations and Malaysian laws. For cross-border business activities involving sensitive technologies, Malaysia will adopt a cautious attitude.

According to semiconductor industry analysts, Malaysia, as an important data center hub in Southeast Asia, has also attracted substantial investment from technology companies in recent years.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1835356989269000/

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