Malaysia must master its own AI ecosystem, says YTL executive

Malaysia must proactively develop its own comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to prevent over-reliance on foreign technology, according to Yeoh Keong Hann, Executive Director of YTL Power International Berhad.

Yeoh emphasized that AI is poised to become a foundational technology, akin to electricity and the internet in previous eras. He stated that building AI is not merely about creating applications but involves developing an entire technology chain, encompassing energy, data centers, cloud computing, foundation models, and applications. This holistic approach is crucial for Malaysia to innovate, compete, and shape its own AI future.

The urgency for an independent AI ecosystem was underscored by a recent incident where the United States temporarily suspended global access to Anthropic's AI model, Claude Fable 5, for foreign nationals. Yeoh noted that such access can be subject to the policies of foreign companies or nations, making self-sufficiency in AI technology a pressing necessity for Malaysia.

YTL is actively contributing to this goal by developing capabilities across the five key layers of the AI ecosystem: energy, data centers, cloud computing, foundation models, and applications. The company is investing in large-scale power supply for AI operations, developing a significant data center campus in Johor, and has achieved NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud status. Furthermore, YTL AI Labs has developed ILMU, a local large language model designed to understand Malaysian language, culture, and context, which has performed exceptionally well in benchmarks for the Malay language.