Govt aims for Malaysia to be top regional AI hub

06 Nov 2023

The government aims to make Malaysia among the best artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and technology hubs in the region through the Kuala Lumpur 20 (KL20) blueprint which will be launched in February, next year.

Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said various discussions with global giant AI companies have been carried out to realise the plan.

“The overall new strategies and improvements relating to the AI ecosystem are contained in the KL20 blueprint, with the aspiration to accelerate the growth of the world’s best digital economy ecosystem.

“Hence, the government’s focus is to establish Malaysia as a regional hub for AI, aside from creating an ecosystem for startup companies that are interested in the technology which will be announced in the KL20 blueprint,” he said during the minister’s question time in the Dewan Rakyat, today.

Rafizi said this in response to a supplementary question by Howard Lee Chuan How (PH-Ipoh Timur) on whether the government would assist established companies in the digital economy landscape to progress to the next level.

Meanwhile, he added that the KL20 blueprint would also detail the government’s decision on several policies established to open the digital economy sector to a wider audience, such as international talents.

Unlike previous approaches, he said the blueprint will also not be confined to specific sub-sectors following the rapidly changing nature of the digital industry.

“We need to also take into account how quickly the digital industry changes, including how it depends on the flavour of the month, which is now, AI. Hence, investments will go into the main sub-sectors related to AI and talent acquisition.

“(And) while the strategy that will be included in KL20 will not be tied to specific sub-sectors, we will need to consider several approaches to position Malaysia at a competitive level within specific sub-sectors.”

Source: NST