30/12/2025

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TUESDAY | DEC 30, 2025 SCAN ME Digital investments totalling RM54 billion approved in Q3

Automotive TIV to slip in 2026, Proton and Perodua

to stay resilient: CIMB Securities

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s automotive total industry volume (TIV) is expected to decline 2% year-on-year to 774,000 units in 2026 from 790,000 units in 2025, weighed down by headwinds. They include higher average selling prices and a potential revision to the open market value (OMV) calculation methodology that would effectively increase excise duties. However, despite these challenges, CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd expects demand for national brands such as Proton and Perodua to remain resilient, supported by steady demand from first-time buyers and the mass-market segment, as well as the continuation of the RON95 petrol subsidy under the BUDI95 programme. In addition, the stockbroking firm expects Chinese brands to continue gaining traction in the domestic market at the expense of Japanese brands, driven by aggressive pricing strategies aimed at capturing greater market share. “Meanwhile, we understand that the Ministry of Finance has informed the Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) that the revision to the OMV calculation methodology will be deferred by another six months, to July 2026 from January 2026. “We view this as a near-term relief for industry players, particularly for auto makers with higher exposure to locally assembled vehicles. We think this will benefit Japanese and European brands such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz,” CIMB Securities said in a research note yesterday. The stockbroking firm noted MAA president Mohd Shamsor Mohd Zain has clarified that completely built-up (CBU) electric vehicles entering Malaysia before Dec 28, 2025, would continue to qualify for import and excise duty exemptions, with eligibility determined by the vehicle’s entry date rather than delivery to customers. “We believe this particularly benefits Chinese EV players such as BYD, Zeekr, and XPeng. Overall, these developments should provide near-term support to non national vehicle demand in the first half of 2026,” it added. CIMB Securities also expects the national segment to have a higher share of battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales in 2026, following the launch of e.MAS 5 by Proton in November this year and QV-E by Perodua in December. It noted that BEVs accounted for 4.1% of total new vehicle sales in the first nine months of 2025, compared with 2.4% in 2024, while total BEV and hybrid vehicle sales jumped 45% year-on-year to 47,783 units, making up 8.2% of TIV during the period. CIMB Securities said CBU EVs would be subjected to an additional 30% import duty and 10% excise duty beginning January 2026. “However, locally assembled EVs will continue to enjoy tax exemption until 2027. Hence, we think national brands are poised to capture a bigger EV market share from 2026F onwards as non-national brands gradually ramp up local assembly production,” it added. – Bernama

investments into Malaysia demonstrates international confidence in our policies, our talent, and our long-term vision for responsible and inclusive AI-driven growth,” he added. The top four sources of approved digital investments were from Singapore, with RM25.1 billion, followed by Malaysia RM17.2 billion, the United States RM6.4 billion and China RM3 billion. Despite cautious global investment conditions in 2025, Malaysia’s digital economy continued to pivot towards employment intensive and high-value segments, particularly artificial intelligence. AI-related investments accounted for 8,328 jobs created, representing 38% of total projected employment, reflecting rising demand for digital professionals, data scientists, AI engineers and specialised service talent. The Klang Valley continues to be the focal point of digital investments, with Kuala Lumpur and Selangor attracting 88% of total investments, amounting to RM47.8 billion and nearly 90% of the 19,417 digital jobs created, supported by mature infrastructure, strong talent concentration, and high ecosystem readiness. Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) CEO Anuar Fariz Fadzil echoed the minister’s statement, noting that Malaysia continues to stand out as a preferred destination for AI investments. “Malaysia is a premier destination for both foreign and domestic AI investments, driven by

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s digital economy investments continue to record strong momentum, reinforcing the nation’s ambition to become an AI Nation by 2030 and strengthening its position as a leading digital innovation hub in Asean. For the third quarter of 2025, the country recorded RM54.13 billion in approved Malaysia Digital investments, generating 21,815 high value jobs across 402 digital companies, highlighting sustained investor confidence in the country’s digital ecosystem and reflects Malaysia’s long-term AI-driven growth trajectory. Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo said the strong investment momentum reflects Malaysia’s readiness to lead in the AI era, enabling the nation to move up the value chain from being users of technology to becoming creators of globally competitive AI solutions. “Becoming an AI Nation by 2030 requires more than innovation. It demands strong digital foundations, trusted infrastructure, skilled talent, and robust global partnerships. The continued inflow of high-quality digital o Strong momentum propels country towards achieving AI Nation status by 2030 PETALING JAYA: Malaysia and the United States have maintained a strong trading relationship despite uncertainties in the global trading landscape, according to Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin. He said Malaysia’s trade with the United States increased by 30% to RM325.2 billion in 2024. Exports and imports grew by 23.3% and 42.1% to RM198.9 billion and RM126.3 billion, respectively. “The positive export growth reflects the increased demand for Malaysian exports to the United States in 2024, Mohd Uzir said, in a state ment yesterday after releasing the Malaysia’s Trade Statistics Review (MTSR) on export performance to the United States for 2024. “MTSR 2025 analyses Malaysia’s trade performance with the United State, across five main product categories: electrical and electronic (E&E), optical and scientific equipment, machinery, equipment and appliances, rubber and wood,” he added. He said E&E products remained the main pillar of Malaysia-US trade, contributing 60.4% of total export value in 2024. Semiconductors were the largest contributor (46.8%), followed by telecommunication equipment, sound recor ding and reproducing equipment (19.4%), electrical machinery, apparatus, appliances and parts (17%) and office machines and automatic data processing equipment (16.9%). Malaysia’s exports of optical and scientific equipment to the US reached the highest value at RM12.9 billion, an increase of 14.3% in 2024, Mohd Uzir said, adding that Malaysia’s export contribution to the US was the highest compared

its strategic position as a digital hub within Asean and a highly skilled local talent workforce. MDEC’s commitment to developing future-ready talent in partnership with the tech industry has created a supportive ecosystem that enables innovation, scalability, and long term growth,” he said. MDEC’s Malaysia Digital initiatives continue to attract global leaders across high-value AI technology stacks, shaping a local ecosystem where AI is developed responsibly, adopted widely, enables the local companies to expand globally. These efforts place Malaysian-based companies at the centre of the nation’s AI transformation, including those operating within the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone ecosystem. “By providing targeted incentives, proactive investor facilitation, and close policy alignment, MDEC ensures a seamless investment journey while strengthening cross border digital investment opportunities,” Anuar said.

As MDEC approaches its 30th anniversary in 2026 and Malaysia advances towards AI Nation 2030, Malaysia Digital initiatives will remain a cornerstone in driving innovation, strengthening competitiveness, creating high-value jobs, and ensuring that the nation’s AI future is inclusive, sustainable and globally relevant. M’sia-US trade remains strong, hits RM325.2b in 2024

Electrical and electronic products remain the main pillar of Malaysia-US trade, with semiconductors the largest contributor. – BERNAMAPIC to other countries, accounting for 21.8%. especially rubber gloves and engineering industry goods.

He added that machinery, equipment and parts were among Malaysia’s top exports to the US in 2024, contributing 12.7% of Malaysia’s total exports of these products. The value increased by 33.6% to RM8.8 billion in 2024 from RM6.6 billion in the previous year. Rubber products show a strong upward trend in Malaysia’s main export position to the US. The highest export value was recorded in 2021 at RM22.6 billion, driven largely by Covid 19 pandemic related demand. In terms of the time series, exports declined in 2022 and 2023 before rising again to RM7.4 billion in 2024. Malaysia has transitioned from primarily exporting raw rubber to becoming a recognised global hub for high value downstream products,

Malaysia’s wood products maintained a stable export performance to the US during the period from 2015 to 2021. This growth peaked in 2021, reaching a record high of RM7.6 billion. Although exports declined to RM5.4 billion in 2023, they re bounded in 2024 to RM6 billion. The long-term trend remains positive, supported by consistent growth from RM2.9 billion in 2015 to over RM7 billion during the 2020 to 2022 period. Malaysia, for the first time, ranked as number one globally in the biennial Open Data Inventory 2024/25 report released by Open Data Watch , surpassing 197 other countries. This achieve ment marks a significant leap from its 67th position in the 2022/23 assessment.