This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 30, 2024 - January 12, 2025

2 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launches the Central Database Hub (Padu), a database containing individual and household profiles of citizens and permanent residents in Malaysia, which will mainly be utilised for the implementation of the planned targeted subsidies by the government.

16 Government launches the “AI for rakyat” programme to enhance Malaysians’ understanding of artificial intelligence (AI)

2 Apple launches mixed-reality headset Apple Vision Pro.

27 Investment and trading app Moomoo launches in Malaysia, aiming to educate young investors and increase their participation in the stock market.

28 Electronic Arts Inc lays off 5% of its staff and closes offices as part of a restructuring plan that will cost between US$125 million and US$165 million.

1 The cabinet reinstates cabotage exemption for foreign-flagged vessels conducting submarine cable repairs in Malaysian waters.

6 Jati Tinggi Group Bhd’s wholly-owned subsidiary Jati Tinggi Holding Sdn Bhd secures a RM22.06 million job to lay underground cables for a data centre in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB), which specialises in unit trust management, launches the Robo Investment Advisor (RIA) feature in its myASNB application.

19 YTL Power International is among the first few companies to adopt the Nvidia GB200 NVL72, which is a multi-node, liquid-cooled, rack-scale system with fifth-generation NVLink.

27 The Cyber Security Bill 2024, aimed at bolstering national cybersecurity by mandating compliance with specific measures and standards, is passed.

18 Global video game commerce company Xsolla Inc collaborates with Curine Ventures to launch the Xsolla Curine Academy in KL Eco City.

19 The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation launches the AI Sandbox pilot programme.

24 French electronic manufacturing service firm Eolane launches a manufacturing plant in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah, involving an investment of €8.7 million (RM45 million) for the first phase of the project.

25 Global semiconductor firm TTM Technologies Inc invests US$200 million (RM958 million) for its first manufacturing plant in Malaysia at Penang Science Park.

2 Microsoft Corp will invest US$2.2 billion (RM10.5 billion) over the next four years in cloud and AI infrastructure in Malaysia.

Luno Malaysia Sdn Bhd expands its coin offerings with the launch of Cosmos (ATOM) and Polkadot (DOT).

13 OpenAI launches its flagship model GPT-4o with intelligent capabilities across text, visuals and audio.

23 Penang sets up the Penang Chip Design Academy to bolster its integrated circuit design and digital sectors in the state.

Sime Darby Property Bhd will build and lease out a hyperscale data centre at Elmina Business Park in a deal worth RM2 billion, marking the group’s entry into the data centre segment.

26 Malaysia’s first Islamic digital bank — Aeon Bank — is launched.

28 The National Semiconductor Strategy is launched. At least RM25 billion is being allocated by the government to support it.

30 The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry secures Google’s commitment to invest US$2 billion (RM9.4 billion) to house the first Google data centre and Google Cloud region in Malaysia.

1 Jakel Group partners with PiDC Holding Bhd to build a 51MW data centre in Cyberjaya worth RM1.2 billion.

6 Axiata Group Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd launch its digital bank, Boost Bank.

10 Cross Light Capital and Affin Bank Bhd announce Malaysia’s first actively managed fund that seeks exposure to the digital assets space through exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products.

28 Four mobile network operators complete their respective share subscription agreements and acquire a 16.3% stake each in 5G special purpose vehicle Digital Nasional Bhd.

2 Local software and identification document assurance solutions provider Innov8tif Solutions Sdn Bhd’s latest technology for authenticating IDs via smartphone cameras receive an official patent in the US.

8 Raiz Invest Ltd ceases its Malaysian business.

19 Crowdstrike outage impacts millions of computers globally with a blue screen of death.

25 French semiconductor manufacturer Weeroc will invest about RM20 million and start operations in early 2025 at the Puchong Financial Corporate Centre in Selangor.

29 The Shah Alam High Court overturns a Sessions Court ruling that awarded RM700,000 to a businessman, who had filed a suit against Luno Malaysia for failing to safeguard the cryptocurrencies in his Luno account last year.

30 Hyperscale data centre specialist AirTrunk commences operations in Malaysia at AirTrunk JHB1, its 150MW hyperscale data centre in Johor Bahru.

1 MCMC releases its social media and messaging apps regulatory framework for annual licence application.

7 Tesla Inc scraps plans to set up factories in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, focusing solely on charging stations.

8 German semiconductor giant Infineon Technologies AG invests an additional €5 billion (RM30.1 billion) to construct the world’s largest 200mm silicon carbide power fabrication plant in Kedah.

9 The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry reveals that Tesla never committed to opening a factory in Malaysia.

20 Bank Negara Malaysia launches the national fraud portal as an integrated platform to further enhance the timeliness and effectiveness in tracing stolen funds of fraud victims.

22 Amazon Web Services announces an investment of US$6.2 billion (RM29.2 billion) in Malaysia until 2038 as part of its long-term commitment.

17 Intel Corp delays the operations of a new plant currently being built in Malaysia as it grapples with declining sales and mounting quarterly losses.

19 Malaysian and Cambodian central banks launch QR payment linkage that will allow consumers and merchants in both countries to make and receive instant payments.

20 The Artificial Intelligence Governance and Ethics is launched, serving as an initial reference for industries and AI players.

27 The lead European Union privacy regulator fines Meta €91 million (RM419.4 million) for inadvertently storing some users’ passwords without protection or encryption.

28 The Penang government launches the Penang Silicon Design @5km+ zone to attract chip design firms and engineers to the Bayan Lepas Industrial Park and designated surrounding area.

30 BYD recalls nearly 97,000 electric vehicles for a manufacturing fault involving a steering control unit that could lead to fire risks.

Malaysia emerges No 33 out of 133 countries on the Global Innovation Index 2024, its highest ranking since 2016.

1 Touch ’n Go eWallet launches e-Trade, a stock market trading feature, enabling investors to participate in the stock market.

Crowdfunding platform pitchIN and digital asset exchange (DAX) Hata form a partnership to enable businesses to raise funds through digital tokens and list them on an exchange for trading through a “one-stop centre”.

2 Oracle will invest more than US$6.5 billion (RM27 billion) to set up its first public cloud region in Malaysia.

3 Malaysians have lost an estimated US$12.8 billion (RM53.34 billion) to scams over the past year, representing about 3% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the State of Scam Report 2024.

Malaysia is currently home to more than 300 digital content studios, with more than 180 original intellectual properties in animation and gaming, says Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo.

4 The European Union votes to impose tariffs as high as 45% on electric vehicles from China in a move set to increase trade tensions with Beijing.

7 Cybercrime syndicates have raked in as much as US$37 billion (RM158.47 billion) last year and are intensifying operations across Southeast Asia, despite mounting law enforcement efforts, says the United Nations.

16 The Asean Regional Computer Emergency Response Team physical facility is launched here to significantly enhance information sharing among Asean member states regarding cyber threats and attacks, as well as online scams.

17 The Malaysian Investment Development Authority has approved 12 data centre investment projects that include data centre activities, cloud computing and data hosting with an investment of RM90.2 billion over the period from 2021 to June 30, 2024.

18 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announces the National Fund-of-Funds, established under Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which will operate in November 2024 with a RM1 billion fund to support local start-ups.

22 Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc will start using facial recognition technology to crack down on scams that use pictures of celebrities to look more legitimate, a strategy referred to as “celeb-bait ads”.

23 The number of electrified vehicles has reached 33,319 units as at Sept 30, 2024, representing about 5% of the total industry volume, says Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

A total of 7,400 companies have adopted the e-invoice system, with 58 million e-invoices issued as at Oct 14, according to the Ministry of Finance.

24 Ireland’s data protection commission fines LinkedIn €310 million (RM1.46 billion) for illegally processing the personal data of users in the European Union to deliver targeted advertising.

28 Logistics provider DHL Express invests €60 million (RM300 million) in its fully automated sorting system, located at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, claiming to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia to speed up cross-border shipping capacity.

Malaysia’s digital game industry has recorded sales and export revenue of RM45 million from government funds between 2014 and 2024, according to Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo.

29 Biotech firm Iambic Therapeutics unveils a breakthrough AI model that can drastically reduce the time and money needed to develop new drugs.

1 Gamuda Bhd secures a RM451.4 million contract to build a data centre in Cyberjaya.

3 A total of RM10 million from the RM20 million allocated to the development of the e-sports ecosystem under Budget 2025 will be used to construct a new e-sports stadium.

5 Meta Platforms Inc plans to use AI to identify young users on Instagram who are lying about their age and automatically switch them to more restrictive privacy settings.

19 Bank Negara Malaysia, in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and four other central banks, is advancing Project Nexus to enhance the efficiency of instant payment systems for seamless cross-border transactions globally, with full operations expected by 2027.

21 Australia’s centre-left government introduces a bill in parliament that bans social media for children under 16 and proposes fines of up to A$49.5 million (RM143.2 million) for social media platforms with systemic breaches.

23 As at end-October, Malaysia’s 5G coverage in populated areas reached 82.1%, while internet coverage in populated areas stood at 98.38%.

30 OpenAI is sued by top Canadian news publishers for breaching copyright by scraping content to train AI products like ChatGPT.

3 Malaysia has recorded over RM1.22 billion in losses from cybercrimes from January to October 2024, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The types of cybercrimes included e-finance fraud, love scams, e-commerce fraud, non-existent loans and fraudulent schemes.

3 Amazon Web Services announces that Mesolitica has built a Malay-language generative AI LLM called MaLLaM on its cloud services.

Malaysia has recorded 17.5 million users of 5G services to date, covering over 82% of populated areas nationwide, according to Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo.

4 Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) aims to produce 500 units per month of an electric vehicle called eMO-II starting next year.

5 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim voices disappointment over delays in executing MyDigital ID and the second 5G network.

Bitcoin price catapults above US$100,000 (RM442,700) for the first time.

6 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim gives MyDigital ID and Digital Nasional Bhd a mid-December deadline to tackle delays in the implementation of two national digital initiatives — MyDigital ID and the second 5G network.

11 The Online Safety Bill 2024 is passed in a bloc vote.

12 Malaysia launches the national AI office, aimed at shaping policies and addressing regulatory issues, as it looks to establish itself as a regional hub for AI development.

Contractors slow in constructing telecommunications tower projects under the National Digital Network Plan (Jendela) have been urged to expedite their work and complete construction by Dec 31 to avoid facing punitive measures.

13 The first transmission of green electricity with a capacity of 50MW from Malaysia to Singapore kicks off, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation (Petra).

16 Proton launches the country’s first battery-powered electric vehicle, the Proton e.MAS 7. The entry-level Prime model is priced at RM109,800, while the Premium version costs RM123,800.

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