Malaysia plans law making data centres disclose AI chip imports and power use to curb smuggling

Malaysia plans a law that would require data centre operators to disclose how many GPUs they import, their power consumption, the locations of their facilities and the identities of operators and hyperscale customers, Tom's Hardware reports. The Malaysian Government intends to track data centres throughout their lifetime rather than only at project approval.

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani acknowledged on Thursday that some companies had rented space in Malaysian data centres to import GPUs legally and then shipped them abroad in smuggling operations, according to the report. The Digital Ministry is reviewing existing legislation to see whether authorities can act against such entities. Johari said Malaysia was prepared to cooperate with US authorities and share information about facilities that house particular GPUs on request.

The law would also make operators pay for all the electricity capacity they reserve, whether or not they use it, to discourage companies from holding capacity they may not need for years. Malaysia has approved 117 data centre projects, 55 of them operational, Johari said. Tom's Hardware notes that power use alone cannot show accurately how many accelerators a facility runs.