KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 (Reuters) - Malaysia's government

did not develop, coordinate or endorse an artificial

intelligence project involving a local company and Huawei

Technologies, its trade ministry said in a statement on

Wednesday, backtracking on a previous announcement.

The statement followed local media reports on Monday that a

Malaysian company, Skyvast Corporation, would deploy Huawei's

Ascend chips for the project.

The ministry said it wanted "to clarify that the said

initiative was not developed, endorsed, or coordinated by the

Government of Malaysia, nor does it form part of any

Government-to-Government agreement or nationally mandated

technology programme."

Huawei told Reuters that it has not sold any Ascend

chips in Malaysia, and the Malaysian government has not

purchased any of those chips from them.

Huawei developed the Ascend chips after it was blocked by

the U.S. government from receiving advanced semiconductors. The

chips have since become an alternative for Chinese firms after

Washington moved to further curb sales of high-end chips by top

AI chip maker Nvidia ( NVDA ) to China.

The Trade Ministry added that the country remains committed

to fully complying with all applicable export control laws,

national security directives, and emerging guidance from global

regulatory authorities.

Skyvast did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.