KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has recorded significant progress in developing its Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem, following the completion of YTL Power International Bhd
’s Nvidia-powered data centre in Kulai, Johor.
The update came during a meeting in South Korea attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, and Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
The session highlighted Malaysia’s advances in its AI landscape over the 22 months since Anwar and Huang first met in Kuala Lumpur in December 2023 to discuss the nation’s AI roadmap.
The Kulai facility at the 600MW YTL Green Data Centre Park is equipped with Nvidia’s liquid-cooled NVL72 Grace Blackwell (GB 200) GPUs, together with ILMU, which represent a major step forward in building Malaysia’s own AI.
“Malaysia aims to become a leading AI nation by 2030 — leveraging AI to boost productivity, enhance public services, and build a sustainable, inclusive, and ethical digital economy.
“Establishing our own sovereign AI is very important in developing a secure, trusted AI-enabled digital ecosystem. I congratulate YTL and NVIDIA on achieving this significant milestone and I sincerely hope that this will accelerate the AI drive for the benefit of all Malaysians,” Anwar said in a statement.
Since the initial meeting between Anwar and Huang, Malaysia has launched the National AI Office under the Digital Ministry, introduced plans for a AI Cloud, and rolled out AI upskilling and adoption programmes across public and private sectors.
Malaysia also launched ILMU, its first large language model, at the Asean AI Summit in August, marking another step in advancing its AI capabilities.
Tengku Zafrul said the Government has earmarked RM5.9bil in its 2026 budget to bolster the nation's artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
“We will continue to actively promote strategic investments in AI infrastructure, driving forward our mission to lead in digital transformation. In alignment with the National Industrial Master Plan, we are accelerating the adoption and integration of AI across the manufacturing and manufacturing-related services sectors—empowering industries to enhance productivity, competitiveness, and global relevance.”
Meanwhile, YTL Power managing director Datuk Seri Yeoh Seok Hong said it has become increasingly vital for nations to develop clouds to host government and citizen-facing AI services.
