The alliance intends to accelerate Malaysia’s digital transformation by using sophisticated AI and sovereign cloud infrastructure. The deal was formally signed at the ASEAN-GCC Economic Forum 2025, which was attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, and G42 Group CEO Peng Xiao.
The collaboration will focus on strengthening national security, enhancing government efficiency, and driving data-powered governance across critical sectors including public safety and government operations. The deal follows a memorandum of understanding regarding collaboration in AI signed between Malaysia and the UAE in February.
The Malaysia agreement is Presight’s first major expansion into Southeast Asia and demonstrates growing UAE-Malaysia strategic cooperation beyond traditional trade relationships. The partnership leverages the UAE’s early AI adoption experience to support Malaysia’s digital sovereignty ambitions, whilst establishing a template for UAE-ASEAN technology collaboration that could influence regional AI and digital transformation strategies.
- G42’s big data analytics company Presight has signed a strategic agreement with MMAI Technologies to accelerate the country’s digital transformation through advanced AI and sovereign cloud infrastructure development.
- MMAI Technologies serves as the AI cornerstone for the country’s MADANI economic framework launched by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in July 2023.
- The agreement was formally exchanged at ASEAN-GCC Economic Forum 2025 in the presence of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
- The new collaboration focuses on developing sovereign cloud infrastructure, AI solutions for national safety, public security applications, and government efficiency improvements through data-powered governance systems.
- The initiative reinforces Malaysia’s MADANI economic framework objectives of sustainable development, fair wealth distribution, and robust innovation investment to elevate the country’s economic standing.
- Partnership leverages bilateral momentum from UAE-Malaysia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement confirmed in October 2024, with non-oil trade reaching $2.5 billion in first half 2024.
- The new Presight agreement builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in Abu Dhabi in January 2025, witnessed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
The collaboration will focus on developing sovereign cloud infrastructure, AI technologies, and applications to improve government efficiency, national security, and public safety. Saifuddin Nasution Ismail asserted that the UAE’s proactive AI efforts, led by Presight, provide a solid platform for Malaysia’s own AI objectives. He stressed that Malaysia’s collaboration with Presight is completely consistent with the country’s Malaysia Madani vision for a digitally sovereign future. Presight’s CEO, Thomas Pramotedham, asserted the company’s commitment to utilising applied AI to generate national impact, pledging to develop cutting-edge solutions for improving efficiency in crucial industries.
This partnership builds directly on the February 2025 MoU between the UAE and Malaysia for joint AI and digital infrastructure investment, witnessed by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. That agreement established the framework for AI collaboration under Malaysia’s MMAI initiative, focusing on national security systems, high-performance data centres, and digital tax collection. The February MoU followed a January 2024 digital infrastructure development agreement, demonstrating systematic UAE-Malaysia cooperation as Malaysia becomes Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing data centre market, attracting investments from hyperscalers including Google, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.
