KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 – Malaysia must strengthen its ability to build and commercialise its own solutions, rather than be merely a large market for global technology, said Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo.
He said Malaysia must move Malaysians up the tiers from mere users of technology to builders, innovators and creators. This requires stronger links between the Government, industry, universities, researchers, start-ups and global technology companies.
Gobind said Malaysian companies must have a meaningful place in the artificial intelligence (AI) value chain, not simply as vendors but as partners developing products, intellectual property and solutions that can scale across ASEAN.
“This is where partnerships with companies such as ZTE matter,” he said in his speech at the ZTE Global Summit and User Congress 2026 here today.
He said global technology companies brought technology, experience and scale, while Malaysia brought talent, established industrial bases and access to a growing regional market.
“A successful partnership should leave something valuable behind: skilled Malaysians, stronger local companies, transferred knowledge, intellectual property and new markets,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gobind said Malaysia had built strong digital foundations through connectivity, cloud, data centres, digital platforms and computing power, but the goal of digital transformation did not lie in infrastructure alone.
He said its value lies in what it enables, including stronger businesses, better public services, new industries and better opportunities for Malaysians.