On Tuesday, Tengku Zafrul explained that the servers are usually imported by data centres. Major industry players in Malaysia include Microsoft, AWS and Google.
“We have no information just yet that these companies, and the data centres they are operating in Malaysia, are not using the chips they are supposedly using,” he told CNBC.
His ministry said on Monday it will issue comments once it has obtained further details.
CHIPS SUBJECT TO US’ EXPORT RESTRICTIONS
AI chips from the American tech firm Nvidia are subject to US export restrictions as the US seeks to restrict China’s access to advanced chips for defence and other strategic purposes.
After Chinese firm DeepSeek released its AI model in January, US authorities began investigating whether DeepSeek circumvented sanctions through third parties in countries like Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
Last month, Tengku Zafrul emphasised that Malaysia’s government takes seriously the allegation that the country is being used as a transit point for the smuggling of Nvidia chips to China.
Malaysia would not want any party to exploit its position as a semiconductor and regional logistics hub for illegal activities, he said, as reported by news outlet Bernama.
“We firmly adhere to export control regulations under the Strategic Trade Act, which governs the export, transit and transshipment of strategic goods, including semiconductors,” he said.
To strengthen surveillance, Tengku Zafrul revealed that the Malaysian government is enhancing international cooperation to monitor the flow of sensitive technologies, such as Nvidia’s H100 and A100 chips used in high-performance AI applications.
“Malaysia’s policy aligns with control measures implemented by the US, the European Union and the United Kingdom,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
