Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 68 | Page 29

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY

Magna AI and Zchwantech partner on US $ 700M sovereign AI infrastructure for Malaysia

Magna AI, the global integratedvalue-chain sovereign AI transformation leader established through a partnership between Trend Micro and Wistron in strategic collaboration with NVIDIA, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding( MoU) with Zchwantech Group, a home-grown technology solutions provider in Malaysia.

The MoU outlines a strategic collaboration to design and develop sovereign-ready AI infrastructure, advanced AI applications and national-scale AI security capabilities for Malaysia. The initiative is anchored by the planned development of a 20MW AI Datacenter in Sarawak, estimated at approximately US $ 700 million.
Under the MoU, Zchwantech Group and Magna AI will collaborate on the development of a sovereign AI factory framework in Malaysia. This framework will integrate data pipelines, model pipelines, AI operations and high-performance computing environments to support enterprise and national-level AI workloads.
The collaboration also includes the codevelopment of AI applications tailored to Malaysia’ s priority industries. These applications will incorporate predictive intelligence, automation and domainspecific AI models designed to accelerate operational efficiency and enhance digital competitiveness across both public and private sectors.
In addition, the partnership establishes a framework to address the growing requirement for secure, national-scale AI infrastructure. Under the MoU, the parties will collaborate on developing dedicated AI data centres designed to deliver the high-performance computing capacity required to support the nation’ s Digital Transformation agenda.
Yang Mulia Tengku Dato’ Setia Putra Al-Haj bin Almarhum Tengku Azman Shah Al-Haj, Chairman of Zchwantech Cybersecurity Sdn. Bhd., said the partnership reflects a strategic response to evolving cyber-risk dynamics.
“ As Digital Transformation accelerates, traditional security approaches alone are no longer sufficient. By uniting cybersecurity with advanced AI, this collaboration equips organisations with proactive, adaptive solutions that protect critical systems while enabling innovation,” he said.
The collaboration leverages Zchwantech Group’ s deep expertise in cybersecurity and digital integration alongside Magna AI’ s end-to-end AI transformation capabilities. These include model integrity and data governance, which together establish a benchmark for secure digital adoption and effective risk mitigation at national scale.
Chan Chau Loong, Executive Director of Zchwantech Sdn. Bhd., said“ Embedding security into digital and AI strategies is not optional— it is essential. Through this partnership, we are strengthening our ability to deliver solutions that are resilient, scalable and aligned with real operational needs.”
Dr. Moataz BinAli, Chief Executive Officer, Magna AI, said:“ Malaysia is at an inflection point, with the opportunity to lead the region in sovereign AI capabilities. Our collaboration with Zchwantech brings together deep AI engineering, cybersecurity expertise and a unified vision for national scale transformation.”
The MoU follows extensive joint work between Magna AI and Zchwantech, with collaboration from WiAdvance, to define a framework balancing innovation, sovereignty and security. The parties are working on technical and architectural alignment and stakeholder coordination for the Sarawak AI Data Center opportunity, while advancing initiatives under the Malaysia Sovereign AI Factory programme. • www. intelligentcio. com
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