KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 10): YTL Power International Bhd (KL:YTLPOWR) fell on Tuesday amid renewed scrutiny of its data centre partner Nvidia Corp over espionage allegations.
Shares of the multi-utilities firm fell as much as 40 sen or nearly 8% before paring to close at RM4.69, its lowest since Aug 10. YTL Corp Bhd (KL:YTL), which holds a 51% stake in YTL Power, was down a little under 3% to RM2.00. The benchmark FBM KLCI fell 0.8%.
YTL Power is a cloud and data centre partner of Nvidia, operating a data centre powering artificial intelligence in Johor equipped with some of the US chipmaker's latest graphics processing units.
An official with YTL Power declined to comment.
The declines follow news reports over the weekend of an affair by Jensen Huang, the chief executive officer of US chip giant Nvidia, with a suspected Chinese spy accused of helping entities circumvent American restrictions on imports of high-performance chips to China.
Huang admitted to the affair, according to news reports, prompting Nvidia to launch an internal investigation. The alleged spy is linked to Singapore-based Megaspeed International.
In October, The New York Times reported that the little-known firm, which has a wholly-owned subsidiary in Malaysia to buy nearly US$2 billion (RM8.4 billion) worth of Nvidia chips, is now under investigation by the US and Singapore.
However, there have been no credible reports linking YTL Power to Megaspeed or its Malaysian unit Speedmatrix Sdn Bhd.
"Nothing has been proven against YTL, but the potential US regulatory implications are spooking investors,” Hang Tuah Amin Tajudin, the chief executive officer of PMB Investment Bhd, told The Edge.
Current valuation now looks more attractive though “I'd wait for clarity on the allegations”, he said. “If unfounded, we could see a decent rebound.”
The government has yet to receive evidence that Speedmatrix violated Malaysian law, the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said on Tuesday.
“Malaysia will not allow itself to be used as a channel to circumvent export controls, and the government will not hesitate to act firmly against any company found to have violated Malaysian law,” Johari was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.