Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, has announced the integration of ILMU — Malaysia’s homegrown sovereign large language model (LLM) developed by YTL AI Labs — into its platform, enabling organisations in Malaysia to run generative AI on governed enterprise data through Snowflake’s secure governance framework. The integration is further supported by Snowflake’s availability on the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) region, allowing secure, in-country deployment of enterprise AI capabilities.
The move positions Snowflake among the first global AI and data cloud providers to support integration with a locally developed sovereign LLM within a fully in-country deployment. This enables enterprises to accelerate AI adoption while continuing to meet strict data governance and residency requirements.
Through the integration, enterprises gain access to a sovereign LLM specifically trained on Malaysian linguistic nuances and cultural contexts. This strengthens Snowflake’s AI capabilities with improved understanding of Bahasa Melayu, Manglish and regional dialects, enabling more accurate interpretation of locally contextualised enterprise data. Organisations are therefore able to derive greater value from their data by developing AI-driven applications that are more relevant, accurate and locally attuned, without compromising performance or scalability.
By operating ILMU within Snowflake’s governed environment, sensitive data remains securely managed under Snowflake’s established security framework. This enables organisations to adopt AI while ensuring proprietary data remains within national borders and under full governance controls. The capability is particularly important for regulated sectors such as the public sector, financial services, telecommunications and retail, where data governance and residency requirements are critical.
The collaboration reflects growing demand among Malaysian enterprises for AI solutions that align with local data governance requirements while supporting broader national ambitions to strengthen Malaysia’s position in the global AI economy.
“With Malaysia’s RM2 billion Sovereign AI Cloud commitment underscoring data localisation as a national priority, organisations need AI solutions they can trust to keep their data onshore,” said Satchit Joglekar, Regional Vice President, Snowflake ASEAN. “With Snowflake now available in the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) region and the integration of ILMU into our platform, we are giving Malaysian enterprises the confidence to adopt AI securely within their enterprise data environment, in the language their customers speak, without compromising governance or compliance.”
Foong Chee Mun, CEO of YTL AI Labs, said the integration of the ILMU sovereign LLM with the Snowflake environment marks a significant milestone in localising high-performance AI. He noted that YTL AI Labs has focused on building the sovereign infrastructure required to power such workloads, and that enabling seamless access to Malaysia’s national language model through a secure global platform like Snowflake would ensure Malaysian enterprises can deploy AI solutions that are culturally relevant, legally compliant and hosted within Malaysia.
The ILMU integration and Snowflake’s presence in the AWS Asia Pacific (Malaysia) region come at a time when enterprise use cases in Malaysia are increasingly evolving into practical applications of governed AI.
“At Ryt Bank, our priority is to provide secure and innovative financial services that truly serve Malaysian customers,” said Nic Ngoo, Chief Technology Officer of Ryt Bank. “YTL AI Labs provides ILMU — a sovereign, locally built LLM and AI services that allow our bank to build the world’s first AI-powered bank that redefines the banking experience. With ILMU and Snowflake’s in-country deployment, our customers can bank using natural, culturally nuanced language for everything from transferring money and seeking personalised financial advice to seamless customer support, while ensuring the highest standards of data residency and governance.”
Among the early adopters is property developer S P Setia Bhd (Setia), which recently received a Malaysia Technology Excellence Award for its AI innovations in the real estate sector, including AI sales agents and AI vision-based inspection solutions.
“As one of the nation’s leading property developers, Setia has long been entrusted with shaping communities that reflect the values, aspirations and way of life of Malaysians,” said Datuk Zaini Yusoff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Setia. “This integration represents a strategic milestone in how we elevate the property journey through personalisation and innovation. By leveraging Snowflake’s local data infrastructure and AI capabilities built for the Malaysian market, we look forward to continuously improving how we engage with customers in language that feels natural and familiar across every touchpoint — from home discovery to property management — while reinforcing the trust that underpins our long-standing leadership in the industry.”
Snowflake is a platform designed for the AI era, helping enterprises innovate faster and unlock greater value from data. More than 13,300 customers worldwide, including hundreds of the world’s largest companies, use Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud to build, use and share data, applications and AI solutions. Further information is available at snowflake.com (NYSE: SNOW).
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