Despite U.S. warnings, Malaysia is considering using Huawei's Ascend 910C to build its sovereign AI system.

Beating AI News Flash: Malaysia is seriously considering adopting Huawei’s Ascend 910C to build a sovereign AI infrastructure project valued at 2 billion ringgit (approximately $494 million). The initiative aims to keep sensitive data from government, military, and intelligence agencies within the country. State-owned telecom firm Telekom Malaysia has been named the primary operator, though the final chip selection has not been finalized. The focus is currently on the 910C, not the newer Ascend 950, which remains in limited production. Last year, the U.S. warned that using certain Huawei Ascend chips, including the 910C, could violate American export control rules. The Malaysian government is also considering re-tendering the project to enable direct competition from U.S. vendors such as NVIDIA. This marks Malaysia’s second engagement with Huawei’s AI chips: last May, the deputy communications minister announced plans to deploy 3,000 Ascend chips, but retracted the statement a day later. The government later clarified that the project was private and unrelated to national programs. Now, Huawei is re-entering a formal sovereign AI project backed by the Malaysian government with a 2 billion ringgit investment. If Huawei is ultimately chosen, this would be the first known instance of a foreign government formally selecting a Chinese AI accelerator. Huawei is also competing for an AI data center project with the Egyptian government, marking a genuine entry of Chinese AI chips into overseas national-level infrastructure competition.