The United States (US) has announced restrictions on access to artificial intelligence (AI) chips, and Malaysia is included in the list of countries that are subject to restrictions on the use of this technology.
This was confirmed by the US Secretary of Commerce, where this step was taken to ensure that the US continues to dominate the development of AI technology globally.
According to US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, these restrictions have three levels, Level 1 involves allied countries such as Japan and the UK who have full access, Level 2 includes Malaysia and Singapore with certain limits and Level 3 involves China and Russia who are not allowed to use US AI chips at all.
However, companies such as Microsoft and Google are still allowed to build unlimited AI data centers, giving Malaysia some relief.
However, US companies are only allowed a maximum of 7% to place their computing power in level 2 countries including Malaysia.
In general, these companies can only operate 50% of their computing power outside the US and 25% in tier 1 countries.
This has raised concerns among US-based companies such as NVIDIA and Oracle about their competitors.
The restrictions would also restrict China's access to US computing power through the use of regional data centers, something China has already faced for the past two years.
