By: Retave’s Technology Desk Editor
On September 4, 2026, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir stood in a lab at Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) in Kuala Lumpur. He launched something new: Malaysia’s first AI Supercomputing Lab for students in computer science, data science, and engineering at APU. That’s computing power once reserved for major research labs and tech companies.
But the lab itself isn’t really the story. It’s a visible marker of something the Malaysian government has been building toward for a couple of years now: a deliberate, ministry-led effort to make artificial intelligence part of the basic infrastructure of Malaysian higher education, not a side experiment bolted onto it.
A Blueprint With AI Built In
The clearest evidence of that intent sits inside the Malaysia Higher Education Plan 2026–2035 (Rancangan Pendidikan Tinggi Malaysia, or RPTM), unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya on January 20, 2026, alongside a companion plan for schools, under the wider National Education Development Plan (RPN) 2026–2035. The RPTM didn’t emerge from a closed-door process — it was shaped by consultations with 181 local experts and 8,226 stakeholders, including academics, institutional leaders, and industry representatives.
In their own joint statement, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) describe technology and AI integration as a direct enabler of curriculum design and research, meant to help produce what the statement calls “future technology creators,” while keeping the plan’s talent-development goals grounded in a humanity-centric philosophy. In practice, the ministries aren’t treating AI capability and human-centred values as competing priorities. They’re writing both into the same document, side by side.
The RPTM’s rollout is spread across three implementation phases running through 2035, which helps explain why officials are still actively discussing “upcoming” AI provisions well after the plan’s formal launch — the document exists. Still, its specific initiatives are being introduced and expanded in stages rather than all at once.
What the Ministry Keeps Saying
MOHE Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir has repeated the same message at nearly every public event tied to AI and universities this year. Speaking in Ipoh in July 2026, he said folding AI and other emerging technologies into higher education has become essential for building the human and intellectual capital Malaysia needs to handle global uncertainty. His stated goal is a new generation “equipped to face future challenges” arising from AI and its algorithms — provided that moral and ethical values remain built into the education system alongside technical training.
That balancing act, AI as a tool rather than a substitute for judgment, shows up again in how the ministry talks about its own initiatives. The tone is less “move fast” and more “move deliberately, with guardrails attached.”
The Programs Behind the Talk
The RPTM’s language about “technology creators” already has a working example to point to: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s (UTM) Faculty of Artificial Intelligence (FAI), the country’s first standalone AI faculty. A few facts about how it came together and where it stands now:
- Launched in four months. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim officiated the launch on May 10, 2024, at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, alongside the Malaysia AI Consortium (MAIC) — a network of public and private universities, each assigned a specific AI focus area.
- Curriculum tied to national policy from the start. MOHE has said the faculty’s programme was designed to align with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOSTI)’s National Artificial Intelligence Roadmap 2021–2025.
- Backed by real money and real staff. The faculty began with an initial allocation of RM20 million and has since grown to around 150 academic and support staff members, including more than 60 AI specialists.
- A three-year Bachelor of Artificial Intelligence with Honours, with specialisations covering areas such as robotics and automation, intelligent informatics, and creative AI.
- Drawing international interest. By its second intake in 2025, the faculty had received more than 60 international applications in addition to domestic enrolment.
The faculty’s dean, Prof. Ts. Dr. Mohd Naz’ri bin Mahrin, has framed the faculty’s mandate beyond its own classrooms, saying UTM is also “responsible for helping other public universities develop their own AI programmes”.
APU’s supercomputing lab, launched roughly two years after UTM’s faculty, shows the same approach extending past a single flagship public university and into the private higher education sector, with the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) publicly backing the move rather than watching from the sidelines.
Where This Sits in the Bigger Picture
Both the UTM faculty and the APU lab sit inside a larger national AI framework. Malaysia’s AI Nation 2030 plan, led by the National AI Office under the Ministry of Digital, includes a dedicated pillar for AI-centric higher education under MOHE’s stewardship, alongside separate strands covering school-level AI literacy, civil service training, and the broader talent pipeline. Retave will work through that structure in more detail in an upcoming series.
For now, the pattern across every ministry statement, launch event, and press conference this year points in the same direction: AI is already arriving in Malaysian lecture halls and labs, and government policy is actively trying to shape the terms on which it does so, rather than simply responding after the fact. For lecturers watching new computing infrastructure appear on campus, or administrators weighing how much of next year’s budget to allocate to it, that’s the more durable story behind the headline: not one hardware launch, but a multi-year policy commitment already several years in the making.
Further Reading
- Malaysia’s Plan to Put AI in Every University Curriculum
- Training the Trainers: How Malaysia Plans to Get University Educators AI-Ready
- AI in the Classroom, AI in the Career Office: Malaysia’s Plan for Personalised Tertiary Learning
References
Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation. (2026, September 4). APU launches Malaysia’s first AI supercomputing lab powered by NVIDIA DGX Spark for education & innovation. https://www.apu.edu.my/news/apu-launches-malaysias-first-ai-supercomputing-lab-powered-nvidia-dgx-spark-education
Bernama. (2024, May 4). Malaysia’s first AI faculty to be launched on May 10 – Zambry. https://bernama.com/en/news.php?id=2294203
Bernama. (2025, August 7). UTM AI faculty receives over 60 international applications for the second cohort. https://bernama.com/en/news.php?id=2454321
Bernama. (2026a, January 18). PM Anwar to launch RPN 2026-2035 to strengthen the national education ecosystem. https://www.bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=2513831
Bernama. (2026b, July 21). Integrating AI in higher education is vital to building human and intellectual capital – Zambry. https://bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=2583918
Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi & Kementerian Pendidikan. (2026, January 18). Siaran media: RPN 2026-2035 — Rancangan satu dekad pendidikan bersepadu negara bakal dilancarkan pada 20 Januari depan [Media statement]. Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. https://www.mohe.gov.my/en/broadcast/media-statements/siaran-media-rpn-2026-2035-rancangan-satu-dekad-pendidikan-bersepadu-negara-bakal-diluncurkan-pada-20-januari-depan
