Overview

• Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry said that all exports, transshipments and transits of high-performance US-origin AI chips now require a government-issued Strategic Trade Permit.
• Companies and individuals must give Malaysian authorities 30 days’ advance notice before moving any US AI chips, even if the components are not listed in the national Strategic Items List.
• The government is invoking the Strategic Trade Act 2010 as it assesses formally adding high-performance AI chips to its Strategic Items List to strengthen oversight.
• Kuala Lumpur’s decision responds to US concerns over illicit diversion routes after Washington signaled plans to extend export restrictions to Malaysia and Thailand.
• Authorities cited reports of Chinese engineers using Malaysian data centres with Nvidia hardware to train AI models as evidence of attempts to bypass US export controls.