PETALING JAYA: The Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) clarified that it has never cleared Singapore-based Megaspeed International Pte Ltd or its Malaysian affiliate, Speedmatrix Sdn Bhd.
In a statement on Friday (Nov 13), the ministry said Speedmatrix was a tenant at data centres in Malaysia and that verification visits by the ministry to the facilities were part of its regular monitoring of the data centre sector.
It said such visits should not be taken to mean that Speedmatrix or any other company had been cleared by the ministry, saying that the visits were routine monitoring exercises which did not amount to a company-specific clearance or sign-off.
The ministry said Speedmatrix brings its own servers and artificial intelligence (AI) chips into Malaysia for its operations.
It said bringing AI chips into Malaysia does not currently require a permit or licence.
However, since July 2025, anyone seeking to export, re-export, transship or transit high-performance US AI chips from or through Malaysia must first obtain a permit from MITI under the Strategic Trade Act 2010.
Providing false information to Customs about such goods is also a serious offence under the Customs Act 1967.
Miti said it was working with the Customs Department to determine whether any of the chips brought into Malaysia had subsequently been re-exported to other countries and whether any such re-exports complied with the law.
It is understood that the ministry checks are focused not on the chips merely being brought into Malaysia, which currently does not require a permit, but on whether controlled chips were subsequently moved out of or through the country in accordance with Malaysian law.
“Malaysia will carry out its own checks independently, in accordance with Malaysian law and based on the evidence available,” the ministry said.
It said it was also working closely with authorities in Singapore and the United States to strengthen safeguards and was considering further measures to tighten controls where necessary.
While Malaysia does not enforce unilateral export controls imposed by other countries, the ministry said companies operating here were expected to take such controls into account in their international business dealings.
It also reminded companies not to misrepresent their dealings with government agencies.
“Malaysia welcomes investment in data centres and technology, but will not allow itself to be used to get around export controls,” it said.
The government would take stern action against any company found to have broken Malaysian law, the ministry added.
