When Nvidia makes a move, Malaysia and Asean should pay attention, especially SMEs — Phar Kim Beng

Nvidia’s acquisition of Hugging Face for nearly $13 billion should not be seen as just another corporate takeover in the tech sector. For Malaysia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), this move highlights the growing importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern world. SMEs across the region should take note as well.

This is because Hugging Face has become a crucial platform for developers to share, test, customize, and deploy AI models, serving over 18 million users and hosting more than 3 million models and 500,000 datasets. The acquisition allows Nvidia to reinforce its dominance in the AI value chain, which already includes occupying a significant position in the semiconductor architecture that underpins advanced AI.

AI is transforming the technological landscape and is increasingly viewed by major powers as a crucial component of economic competitiveness, military capability, industrial productivity, and national power. The United States and China are both investing heavily in AI, viewing it as an instrument to strengthen their positions. This competition is evident in the rapid progress made by Chinese developers, such as DeepSeek and Kimi, who are producing sophisticated AI models at lower costs.

Malaysia should engage with American technology companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, while also keeping an eye on Chinese AI players like Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent, and DeepSeek. By understanding these developments, Malaysia can position itself to utilize AI more effectively, leveraging its existing advantages such as a well-integrated semiconductor ecosystem, a growing data center sector in Johor, manufacturing capabilities, and a robust digital infrastructure.

Strategic autonomy in the AI era will not be achieved through isolation but through technological literacy and diversification.