Key facts
- Malaysia's trade ministry said Speedmatrix imported servers and AI chips as a data centre tenant.
- The ministry said it is working with customs on whether the chips were re-exported and whether shipments complied with the law.
- Malaysia requires a trade permit for re-export, trans-shipment or transit of US-origin high-performance AI chips.
- Megaspeed said on its website it takes US compliance obligations "extremely seriously".
- Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said there is no indication of AI chips linked to Megaspeed being shipped from Malaysia.
Malaysia's Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry said on November 13 that it is working with customs to establish whether AI chips imported by Speedmatrix, a Malaysian unit of Singapore-based cloud computing firm Megaspeed, were re-exported, and if so whether the shipments complied with the law. The ministry said Speedmatrix imported servers and artificial intelligence chips as a data centre tenant, and that official visits to its facilities were part of regular monitoring of the sector.
The review follows a US senator's allegation that Megaspeed may have been used to circumvent US controls on advanced semiconductors. Megaspeed has drawn scrutiny after news reports on ties between former executive Alice Huang and Jensen Huang, then-CEO of US AI chip company Nvidia. The US has alleged Alice Huang spied for China, which China has denied. Megaspeed said in a statement on its website that it takes US compliance obligations "extremely seriously" and did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the ministry's statement.
Malaysia imposed export controls in July 2025 on the movement of high-performance AI chips of US origin, requiring a trade permit for their re-export, trans-shipment or transit; giving customs false information about such goods is an offence. The ministry said it is working closely with authorities in Singapore and the US and is considering strengthening controls. "While Malaysia does not enforce unilateral export controls imposed by other countries, all companies operating in Malaysia are expected to take such controls into account in their international business," the ministry said.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia would collaborate on any probes but had not received requests for assistance from Singapore or the US, state news agency Bernama reported. "Ours is a trading nation. We welcome investment. We want to make sure the rules are being followed," Bernama reported him as saying. Anwar said there is no indication of AI chips linked to Megaspeed being shipped from Malaysia.