Malaysia surprised many when it suddenly withdrew its statement to install 3,000 Huawei AI servers by 2026 worth up to RM4 billion just a day after the official announcement was made.
According to Bloomberg, the servers powered by Ascend GPU chips from China were supposed to make Malaysia the first country to use them nationally but somehow, the entire plan just vanished, as if blown away by the wind.
The announcement even drew a reaction from the White House itself with President Trump’s AI advisor continuing to insinuate that the easing of chip restrictions from the previous administration came “just in time”.
In simple terms, the move to ease the previous chip restrictions was considered strategic, as it gave the US room to intervene before Huawei managed to penetrate the Malaysian market.
What raised even more questions was when Huawei’s own spokesperson came out and said that they had never sold the chips to Malaysia.
Strange! Could one country have misheard? Or is it actually an attempt to ‘cover line’ when geopolitical temperatures are heating up?
Now, an investigation is underway and this is no longer just about the project, but has become a major issue as Malaysia and Singapore continue to be suspected of being used as a 'rat route' for chip technology that is prohibited from reaching China.
