Sovereign AI programme of Malaysia
MalaysiaMalaysia sovereign AI programme
Malaysia’s RM2B Sovereign AI Cloud is to be implemented through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.
Public and private AI cloud initiatives, 2024–2030
No system of this programme has a stated count.
Funding
Its sources give government funding of ~$474M (Budget 2026: Sovereign AI Cloud through MCMC). The government’s budget documents state an announced budget of 2 billion MYR.
- Budget 2026: Sovereign AI Cloud through MCMC (RM2B)
- $474MGovernment
- Unverified national-roadmap budget (World AI Show claim)
- not stated
Chips and export rules
- US export rules
- Malaysia is in Country Group B, outside the groups where exporting advanced AI chips needs a licence from the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 29 Oct 2026
- Scrutica’s rating
- Scrutica rates the programme’s dependence on NVIDIA hardware and on US technology high, on a scale of none, low, medium and high.A qualitative assessment of the programme’s chips, partners and supplier relationships, as none, low, medium or high
Partners
6 partners
3 partners by procurement stage and 3 more named in the programme’s sources.
- In service, 1
- YTL Power International
Sources read to 8 Sep 2026.
Sources, 12
How the figures were made
Announcement recorded. No commitment or disbursement recorded. The stage is assigned from reported hardware status, disbursements and commitments.
YTL’s operating GB200 cloud and Skyvast’s Huawei-based initiative are private projects with separate funding and hardware.
One component is named in the programme’s sources without an amount.
Budget 2026 included RM2B for the Sovereign AI Cloud through MCMC. Parliament approved the budget on 15 December 2025.
Caveats, 5
- The RM20B national-roadmap budget is an unverified World AI Show claim.
- The Sovereign AI Cloud budget announcement gives no GPU count or hardware specification.
- YTL reported its GB200 cloud operational in October 2025. The 600 MW figure covers the wider Green Data Center Park at Kulai; the AI cluster’s power is unspecified.
- Developing Telecoms reported an initial eight Huawei Ascend GPUs and a plan for 3,000 by 2026 at Skyvast in May 2025. On 21 May, MITI identified the initiative as privately driven and outside any government-to-government agreement or nationally mandated technology programme.
- The dollar figures convert the RM2B budget at 4.22 ringgit per US dollar on 10 October 2025, the last rate published before the minister’s statement, from the Federal Reserve’s H.10 series distributed by FRED.
Evidence, 7 entries
Funding
Government funding
Malaysia
~$474M
The amount includes an estimate.
Budget 2026: Sovereign AI Cloud through MCMC (RM2B)
Malaysia
Kind: Government
Amount: $474M
Unverified national-roadmap budget (World AI Show claim)
Malaysia
Government spending
No paid figure stated in the government’s documents
Budget 2026 announced a RM2 billion Sovereign AI Cloud to be built by SKMM (MCMC); it has no federal budget line, the Budget 2027 speech of 9 October 2026 still describes it as being planned and lists it without an amount, and no document read reports any spending.
Sovereign AI Cloud to be built by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM/MCMC)
A part of the programme. The programme record covers public and private AI clouds; this is its only government instrument (YTL's and Skyvast's clouds are private and carry no government budget). Budget 2026 announced it as SKMM's investment, not as a federal appropriation: the 2027 Federal Expenditure Estimates carry no Sovereign AI Cloud project under the Communications (P.47), Digital (P.50) or Science (P.30) development heads, and the Budget 2027 speech (9 October 2026) still calls the cloud "sedang direncana" (being planned) and lists it without an amount. No document states a period or SKMM's funding source.
Announced by the government: SKMM’s 2 billion MYR Sovereign AI Cloud investment. Printed as “2 bilion ringgit”. About $474M at the reference rate of 10 Oct 2025. Sebuah Sovereign AI Cloud akan dibina oleh SKMM dengan pelaburan 2 bilion ringgit. (A Sovereign AI Cloud will be built by SKMM [the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission] with an investment of 2 billion ringgit.)
Kementerian Kewangan Malaysia (Ministry of Finance), Ucapan Belanjawan 2026 (Budget 2026 speech), tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on 10 October 2025 by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, printed page 61 (speech text); the annex on printed page 181 lists "SKMM menerajui pembangunan Sovereign AI Cloud Malaysia ..." at RM2b. Receipt is a page excerpt (the 35 MB PDF exceeds the 25 MB limit; SHA-256 recorded in the excerpt)
Searched, 6 places
Ministry of Finance budget portal (belanjawan.mof.gov.my): budget speeches: Ucapan Belanjawan 2026 (10 Oct 2025; pages 13, 61, 179, 181 excerpted) and Ucapan Belanjawan 2027 (9 Oct 2026; full text, including the annex of measures).. 2026: "Sebuah Sovereign AI Cloud akan dibina oleh SKMM dengan pelaburan 2 bilion ringgit" (p. 61) and RM2b in the annex (p. 181). 2027: the cloud "yang sedang direncana" (para 157, p. 81) and "Pembangunan Sovereign AI Cloud oleh SKMM -" with no amount (annex, p. 171). No spending figure. Ministry of Finance budget portal (belanjawan.mof.gov.my): budget speeches, 2 Nov 2026
Federal Expenditure Estimates 2027 (Anggaran Perbelanjaan Persekutuan 2027): B/P.47 Kementerian Komunikasi, B/P.50 Kementerian Digital, B/P.30 Kementerian Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi (development tables give total project cost, actual expenditure 2025, revised 2026, estimate 2027); Tinjauan Belanjawan 2027.. No Sovereign AI Cloud or SKMM AI project in any of the three development tables. The Digital ministry's operating line "030600 AI Malaysia" is RM9,000,000 (estimate 2026) and RM13,663,400 (estimate 2027), an AI-office budget outside this programme. Federal Expenditure Estimates 2027 (Anggaran Perbelanjaan Persekutuan 2027), 2 Nov 2026
Ministry of Digital (digital.gov.my): Press release of 11 October 2025 on Budget 2026.. "the proposal to establish a Sovereign AI Cloud, with a RM2 billion investment through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)". No spending figure. Ministry of Digital (digital.gov.my), 2 Nov 2026
Parliament of Malaysia, Dewan Rakyat answers (parlimen.gov.my): Compilations of oral questions answered in writing for the third meeting of 2026 (17 daily PDFs, 5 Oct-2 Nov 2026, JDR05102026 to JDR02112026), searched for Sovereign AI / AI Berdaulat / Awan AI / cloud; official Penyata Rasmi of 26 Feb 2026 (DR-26022026.pdf); Hansard Digital draft page for 26 Feb 2026; site-restricted web search for "Sovereign AI Cloud". The written-answer listing and the 2026 first and second meetings are loaded by JavaScript and were not reached.. No answer reports Sovereign AI Cloud spending. The Hansard Digital draft for 26 Feb 2026 has a deputy minister saying the government "telah menubuhkan Sovereign AI Cloud di Malaysia dengan berbelanja RM2 bilion di bawah ... SKMM"; that exchange is not in the official Penyata Rasmi for that date, and it restates the Budget 2026 envelope. The official record (p. 35) names investments by Microsoft, Google and AWS without amounts. Parliament of Malaysia, Dewan Rakyat answers (parlimen.gov.my), 2 Nov 2026
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (mcmc.gov.my): MCMC annual reports page and Universal Service Provision annual reports page, as listed on 2 November 2026.. Latest listed: MCMC integrated annual report 2023 and USP annual report 2024; nothing yet for 2025 or 2026, the years the project could appear in. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (mcmc.gov.my), 2 Nov 2026
National Audit Department (Laporan Ketua Audit Negara): LKAN 1/2026 (tabled 23 Feb 2026), via web search for SKMM and AI audit items.. Coverage found reports 273 new issues; no SKMM or AI item surfaced. The report itself was not opened. National Audit Department (Laporan Ketua Audit Negara), 2 Nov 2026
Still open
SKMM's funding source for the RM2 billion (its own funds, the Universal Service Provision fund or another vehicle) is not stated in any document read; no contract award or procurement notice was located.
The Hansard Digital draft of 26 February 2026 records a deputy minister saying the government had set up the cloud "dengan berbelanja RM2 bilion"; the official Penyata Rasmi for that date does not contain the exchange, and the Budget 2027 speech calls the cloud still being planned. Which record is correct on the cloud's status is unverified.
MCMC's annual reports for 2024 and 2025 are not yet published; they are the first agency accounts that could show outlays.
Dewan Rakyat written answers and the February-March and June-July 2026 meetings were not searchable from static pages and remain unchecked.
Partners
YTL Power International
Malaysia
Model: NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GB200 NVL72 (liquid-cooled)
Stage: Deployed
Notes
YTL reported its liquid-cooled GB200 NVL72 cloud operational in October 2025, within the 600 MW Green Data Center Park at Kulai. In July, The Edge quoted the company’s executive director on about RM10B invested in AI and infrastructure to date. Its Malaysian language model, ILMU, launched in August 2025.
Source
Primary source, 31 Oct 2025
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
Malaysia
Stage: Announced
Notes
Implementing agency for the RM2B Sovereign AI Cloud announced in Budget 2026. The announcement does not specify hardware suppliers or device counts.
Qualifications
Announcement before tender
Source
Primary source, 11 Oct 2025
Open Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s record
Skyvast Cloud
Malaysia
Model: Huawei Ascend
Stage: Announced
Notes
Developing Telecoms reported eight Huawei Ascend GPUs initially and a 3,000-GPU expansion plan in May 2025. MITI subsequently described the initiative as privately driven, outside a nationally mandated technology programme.
Qualifications
Announcement before tender
Source
Press or analyst, 20 May 2025
Identifiers
- Scrutica ID
- sovereign-my
- Country code
- MY
- Name in the record
- Malaysia: Public and private AI cloud initiatives