The Huawei Cloud AI Ecosystem Summit APAC 2025 highlighted how advanced cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can unlock new economic opportunities for Malaysia and the wider ASEAN region, while transforming key industries such as healthcare and manufacturing. The event, part of the ASEAN AI Summit 2025, drew around 300 industry delegates and served as a platform for strategic dialogue between government leaders, industry players, and technology innovators.
Minister of Digital, YB Gobind Singh Deo, in his keynote address, emphasised the importance of ethics and sustainability in Malaysia’s AI journey. He noted that Malaysia’s ongoing efforts, such as the AI Technology Action Plan 2026–2030 and the development of relevant regulatory frameworks, are designed to ensure AI adoption in critical sectors is ethical, sustainable, and of high value. He also underscored the role of the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint and Malaysia Digital (MD) in driving growth, amplified by collaborations with technology leaders like Huawei.
Huawei Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Simon Sun reaffirmed the company’s commitment to strengthening the country’s AI talent pipeline, announcing the goal of nurturing 30,000 Malaysian AI talents over the next three years. This initiative will target students, government officials, industry leaders, think tanks, and associations. In addition, Huawei aims to develop 200 local AI partners through knowledge sharing, solution collaborations, and connections with top AI companies from China. Sun added that Huawei Cloud would act as a bridge to encourage Chinese AI investments in Malaysia, fostering local innovation and the establishment of new AI-focused enterprises.
These efforts form part of the larger Huawei Cloud APAC AI Ecosystem Initiative, unveiled in the presence of Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whose attendance reflected the government’s strong commitment to advancing AI development through public-private partnerships. Vice President of Huawei Cloud Marketing Aka Dai described intelligence as a defining trend, with cloud and AI at the heart of innovation and competitiveness. He pointed out that Huawei has been investing in ASEAN for 26 years and operating Huawei Cloud in the region for seven years, building five regions and 17 availability zones locally to ensure ultra-low latency and reliable infrastructure.
Aka Dai also highlighted Huawei Cloud’s AI Cloud Service, which supports over 160 mainstream open-source models, and its industry-leading Pangu Models that drive the “AI for Industries” strategy, enabling businesses to develop tailored AI solutions.
Chief Technology Officer of Huawei Cloud Enterprise Intelligence, Ms Li Yin, delivered a session titled “Leap to Cloud, Heading to AI,” showcasing how Huawei Cloud’s collaborations with customers and partners have led to AI applications in more than 30 industries and over 500 scenarios worldwide. She explained how Huawei Cloud’s Pangu foundational large model, ModelArts AI toolchain, and engineering expertise enable enterprises to create customised AI models for specialised needs through high-quality training and fine-tuning.
Looking ahead, Li outlined three areas for continued investment: enhancing secure and trustworthy AI computing foundations, applying ModelArts and Pangu Large Models to develop solutions across sectors such as smart cities, mining, healthcare, and manufacturing, and fostering growth by working closely with partners to build a robust AI ecosystem.
The summit also featured prominent speakers, including Head of the National AI Office Malaysia Shamsul Izhan Abdul Majid, Vice President of iFLYTEK Open Platform William Zhou, Co-Founder of Zetrix Dato Fadzli Shah, Managing Director of TrustDecision Malaysia Henry Li Nan, and Multimedia University’s Professor Ts. Dr. Ting Choo Yee, who collectively reinforced the importance of collaboration, innovation, and talent development in shaping the future of AI in Malaysia and the ASEAN region.