3,400%. That’s how much the GPU importation volume has increased in Malaysia since 2023, with US$6.45 billion (~RM27.86 billion) worth of GPUs having been imported into our country since the start of this year, and we haven’t even entered into the month of July.
According to X user Kakashii, the month of April saw Malaysia’s importation of GPUs hit US$2.74 billion (~RM11.84 billion). Delving deeper into the breakdown, Tom’s Hardware noted that by looking at data obtained since 2023, the country’s GPU imports increased by 700% year-over year. In January, we saw US$1.12 billion (~RM4.84 billion) worth of imports, US$627 million (~RM2.7 billion) in February, followed by a spike to US$1.96 billion (~RM8.47 billion) in March.
Nvidia AI Chip Shipments to Malaysia Break New Record: Nearly $3 Billion Worth of GPUs in April
Last month, I shared how—despite U.S. warnings to Malaysia and requests to monitor chip imports and smuggling—the country has been breaking records like never before. Nearly $2… pic.twitter.com/eFVM4K2cnn
— Kakashii (@kakashiii111) May 8, 2025
One of the widely accepted reasons as to why Malaysia’s GPU import has seen a spike is likely due to countries like China, in an effort to circumvent US bans on it. Despite our government rejecting any claims that our country is being used as a transit hub and a promise to curb any such smuggling activities, that hasn’t stopped smugglers and Chinese companies from actively finding ways of circumventing US import and export laws.
At heart of this exportation subterfuge is mostly NVIDIA AI GPUs and chips, prized for their ability to perform compute-heavy, AI-related tasks, such as model refinement, data processing, and infrastructure expenses. Financially, and assuming that the bulk of its GPUs is indeed flowing through Malaysia and off to other countries, the GPU brand imported at least US$5.33 billion (~RM23 billion) worth of GPUs, between February and April 2025. With its estimated revenue of US$43 billion (~RM185 billion) for that quarter, the amount imported into our country would account for approximately 13% of total revenue.
(Source: X, Tom’s Hardware)
