Malaysia Plans to Use Huawei Ascend Chips to Power Sovereign AI Project
nashnova research
Malaysia is evaluating Huawei's Ascend 910C chip to power a $494 million sovereign AI plan — if finalized, the first foreign government to officially choose a Chinese AI chip over American alternatives, directly testing U.S. export-control red lines.
How big is this deal — and why does it matter?
Malaysia's sovereign AI plan is worth 2 billion ringgit (~$494 million), with Huawei's Ascend 910C — Huawei's homegrown AI accelerator chip, rivaling Nvidia — as the intended core compute.
The exact procurement volume is undecided; sources spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
This means → if it goes through, this becomes the first foreign government to officially adopt a Chinese AI chip — taking Huawei's AI silicon from "domestic substitute" to "sovereign-level export," a fundamentally different category.
Why is Washington alarmed — and how does Malaysia see it?
The Trump administration warned last year that using the Ascend 910C could violate U.S. export-control rules. The State Department called Malaysia a key tech-market and manufacturing partner, pointing to a 2025 reciprocal trade agreement.
Malaysia frames the decision as purely commercial. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim publicly questioned the U.S. CLOUD Act — a law letting American courts compel U.S. tech firms to hand over data stored overseas — as a threat to sovereign data protection.
In plain terms = Malaysia's calculus: use American chips, and your data is potentially reachable by U.S. law; use Huawei chips, and at least that layer of risk disappears. This is a security ledger, not just a price comparison.
Who runs the project — and what does the current landscape look like?
Malaysia selected Telekom Malaysia through open tender as the project's core operator. The telco already partners with Huawei on cloud infrastructure, but its current AI compute services still run on Nvidia chips.
Malaysia is one of the world's fastest-growing AI data-center markets; Nvidia, Microsoft, and Oracle all have significant local footprints.
This means → Telekom Malaysia's move is not "starting from zero with Huawei" but an incremental switch between Nvidia and Huawei — putting direct pressure on Nvidia's installed share.
Does this signal something bigger than Malaysia?
Huawei is also bidding to build an AI data center for the Egyptian government; the Trump team is preparing a counter-bid.
This reflects a larger shift: the U.S.–China AI-chip contest has moved from enterprise clients to sovereign infrastructure — when a government buys chips, it is effectively picking a side.
The outcome of Malaysia's sovereign AI project will be an early test case for how the Trump administration handles countries that do not fully align with Washington yet still seek American investment.
市场有风险，内容仅供研究参考，不构成投资建议。