KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 8): Jensen Huang Jen-hsun — chief executive officer and co-founder of American artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp — is set to meet with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in a closed-door meeting on Friday.
“Your Prime Minister (Anwar) is the only Prime Minister with AI in his name, how can I refuse a meeting with an AI PM?” he says half in jest in a media roundtable session during his maiden visit to Malaysia on Friday (Dec 8).
Huang, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Friday morning, will spend a night here before flying off on Saturday morning.
His discussion with Anwar will mainly focus on AI developments in Malaysia.
The 60-year-old Taiwanese American, who is regularly seen donning his trademark black leather jacket, was named as one of the 100 most influential people in AI by Time Magazine this year.
Huang, who was in Singapore on Monday (Dec 4) at a Singapore Conference on AI, had reportedly said Nvidia could invest in an “iconic” AI site in the island republic, as well as construct a new and bigger supercomputer there.
Nvidia already has a supercomputer and an AI technology centre in Singapore, and the 30-year-old AI chip giant has collaborated with hundreds of researchers and start-ups there over the last seven years.
With over 50 offices worldwide, Nvidia maintains a significant Asian presence in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Mainland China, Singapore and Taiwan.
Nvidia is reportedly in advanced talks with Malaysian power-to-property conglomerate YTL Corp Bhd for a potential tie-up that would include collaborating on cloud infrastructure, which is likely to be anchored at YTL's data centre complex in Johor.
While Huang declined to confirm or deny the news reports, it is learnt that YTL and Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) might be making some announcements later on Friday.
It is worth noting that Malaysia has seen a surge in foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the semiconductor space of late. This includes from likes of other US-based chip companies, such as Texas Instruments Inc, Micron Technology Inc and Intel Corp.
In June, it was announced that Texas Instruments plans to invest up to RM14.6 billion to expand its assembly and test operations in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, with production expected to start as early as 2025.
Micron had invested US$1 billion for its first building in Batu Kawan, Penang, and the memory chip player is in the midst of investing another US$1 billion in the next few years for its second building there.
Meanwhile, Intel had reiterated its commitment with an investment of US$7 billion (over RM30 billion) to expand its operations in Penang and Kulim, Kedah.