Berani dalam Benar - Malaysia's option to impact AI.

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 ended last week with what was regarded as the world’s “largest and most historic” one. It brought together prominent names in AI under one theme and generated large investment commitments. The six-day event saw heads of state, global tech executives and thousands of visitors, said to be “a remarkable feat for a country that is still catching up to the United States and China on the AI frontier.” Although some dismissed it as more of “diplomatic” achievements, others claimed it demonstrated “a convening power in global AI governance discussions, producing a declaration with broader country sign-on than any previous summit in the series.” The New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact was endorsed by almost 90 countries and international organisations.

Nevertheless, “The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries, or left to the whims of a few billionaires,” reminded the UN Secretary-General, emphasising that AI must “belong to everyone.” In particular the Global South, where the Summit was held for the first time, and still lagging far behind. Reportedly, participants pressed “the need for designing artificial intelligence that is equitable, accessible and trusted, especially with developing countries in mind.” In this regard, interestingly enough, as the Summit was progressed, Rwanda, a Global South nation boldly promoted itself as an African tech hub. It aims to bring advanced technology to its health, education and other public-sector systems. The Summit opens up to the Global South much wider than before  despite the challenges ahead.

For example, with nearly 1 billion internet users, India has become a key market for global technology companies expanding their AI businesses. However, according to experts, AI deployment requires “heavy localisation, given that it is a country with great cultural and regional diversity, where scores of languages are spoken and a majority of the workforce is in the informal sector.” Countries like Malaysia too, though not being directly involved in the Summit, (despite the Indian Prime Minister's recent publicised state visit,) has also expressly laid out their investment plans in collaboration with foreign microchip partners. The partnership signed in March last year is intended to help Malaysia move up the semiconductor value chain from the current assembly and testing status to high-end chip design. The said 10-year agreement aims to push Malaysia beyond its traditional role in out-dated chip assembly and testing roles, enabling local companies to design and develop their own semiconductors to compete in the global market.

It is done ambigiously with “the perspective of building the whole ecosystem,” unlike the conventional approach that has failed to jolt Malaysia forward due to the lack of “indigenous” technology unlike others. The country has yet to make a significant impact in chip design in particular, after decades of existence and large incentives. The longer term goal is therefore to foster a local semiconductor industry capable of generating trillions in export revenue by 2030. With the pact, Malaysia is targeting the creation of 10 chip companies which could contribute an additional point to the nation’s GDP.

Unfortunately, this is rather short-lived. Of late, it allegedly is broiled with allegations leading to an investigation of the agreement following complaints that the deal was signed without proper approvals from various authorities. Apparently, there has been internal squabbling as to “which ministry should lead semiconductor investments” prompting further delays. Going by an exclusive statement to a local media, the proposal for the deal was brought to the Cabinet three times, through various meetings co-chaired and comprising of the various ministries involved in the negotiations with related private counterparts. In fact, the issue has gone worse with the possible threat to sue the government over allegations of misconduct vis-a-vis an agreement with a global semiconductor giant. There has been a controversy about the “abuse of power” and/or “financial gained” that is leveled to certain individuals. In fact, more persons could be “dragged” including ministers, and other higher officials to furnish the evidence to the contrary.

Given this "ugly" development against the AI Impact Summit in India, Malaysia has clearly shown a rather “negative” image to the world. Although the bilateral relationship with India is to elevate it from an Enhanced to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) with a total of 10 agreements were signed, during the official visit, covering diverse areas like disaster management, combating corruption, and UN peacekeeping operations, semiconductors somehow seems less likely, now that Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission has abruptly made a call on the matter.

As an alternative under such circumstances, it is perhaps safer for Malaysia is to furher enhance efforts in attracting Indian filmmakers by offering additional incentives and simplifying filming approvals instead. This is less complex and complicated than semiconductor deals as narrated above. After all, many Malaysians and politicians are ardent fans of Bollywood movies which are culturally part of the CSP, while waiting for the alledged internal quarrel (real- or imagined) within the Cabinet members to settle down! For this, no AI is needed, for sure! It will be a happy ending for all.