However, Liew Chin Tong said the restrictions would not affect the development of the domestic data centre ecosystem as a whole, Bernama reported.

“These restrictions will not affect the operations of other data centres, such as those that provide transaction, e-commerce, and data storage services, as they do not use AI chips or advanced AI technology,” he was quoted as saying.

Liew was responding to Pang Hok Liong (PH-Labis) who had asked about the impact on Malaysia becoming a regional data centre after the latest US directive.

It was recently reported that Malaysia, along with Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, had been classified as a Tier 2 country by the US.

The classification means that Malaysia will only be allowed to import 50,000 graphics processing units over two years.

Last year, housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming said Malaysia was expected to become the largest data centre hub in Asean in the next four to five years.

On a separate matter, Liew said the government plans to open market access for semiconductor products to other countries including Asean, the Middle East, and South America.