There has been no indication that artificial intelligence chips linked to the Nvidia-Megaspeed case were exported from Malaysia, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on 13 November. He said the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry had given him a report on the matter that morning, The Edge Malaysia reported.
“There has not been any indication of that,” Anwar told reporters when asked whether there was evidence the chips had left the country. Speaking after Friday prayers at Madrasathul Gouthiyyah in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, he said Malaysia would cooperate with all agencies involved.
He added that Malaysia has not received a formal request from Singapore or the United States over any probe into the matter. “Right now, we have not received any such request. But we will, of course, collaborate. Ours is a trading nation. We welcome investments. We want to make sure the rules are being followed,” he said.
The case centres on Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based cloud computing firm accused of steering Nvidia AI chips to China despite US export rules, and its Malaysian unit Speedmatrix Sdn Bhd. Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said servers bought by companies under investigation were exported through Singapore to Malaysia without entering the Singapore market, and police are checking whether they were later routed onwards, CNA said.
In a statement earlier on 13 November, the ministry said it had never cleared Megaspeed or Speedmatrix. It said Speedmatrix is a tenant at data centres in Malaysia and brings its own servers and AI chips into the country for its operations. The ministry, The Star noted, described its verification visits to those facilities as part of regular monitoring of the data centre sector, and said such visits did not mean any company had been cleared.
The ministry is working with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to establish whether any of the chips were re-exported and, if so, whether the re-exports complied with Malaysian law. No permit or licence is required to bring AI chips into Malaysia. Since July 2025, however, anyone seeking to export, re-export, transship or transit high-performance US AI chips from or through Malaysia must first obtain a permit under the Strategic Trade Act 2010. Giving false information to Customs about such goods is a serious offence under the Customs Act 1967.
The ministry also said it is working closely with authorities in Singapore and the United States to strengthen safeguards, and is considering further measures to tighten controls where necessary. Malaysia does not enforce unilateral export controls imposed by other countries, it said, but companies operating here are expected to take those controls into account. “Malaysia welcomes investment in data centres and technology, but will not allow itself to be used to get around export controls,” the ministry said.
The statement followed the resignation of Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang a day earlier. Singapore has barred Megaspeed executive Alice Huang from re-entering the country after she gave investigators inaccurate information about her role at the firm.
Whether any chips moved on from Malaysia is the question the ministry and Customs are still working through, with the government saying its checks will rest on Malaysian law and the evidence available.
