By Sharen Kaur - August 12, 2025
KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Power International Bhd has unveiled ILMU, Malaysia's first homegrown large language model (LLM) designed to rival the world's most advanced AI systems while embedding the country's language, culture, and values at its core.
Developed by YTL AI Labs in partnership with Universiti Malaya, ILMU is fully built, owned, and operated in Malaysia. The multimodal model can understand and respond through text, voice, and vision, while keeping all data within local borders to safeguard AI sovereignty.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim officiated the launch at the Asean AI Malaysia Summit 2025, joined by Minister of Digital Gobind Singh Deo and YTL Power managing director Datuk Seri Yeoh Seok Hong.
Gobind hailed ILMU as a "groundbreaking Malaysian innovation" that embodies the nation's vision for a tech-driven, inclusive and culturally relevant future.
"Built by Malaysians for Malaysians, ILMU showcases our ability to create world-class AI infrastructure while preserving our linguistic and cultural identity. This is more than just technology. It is a step toward empowering our people, our businesses, and our nation in the digital era," he said.
Benchmark tests position ILMU as the world's best AI in Bahasa Melayu, surpassing GPT-4, DeepSeek V3 and GPT-5 in Malay MMLU benchmarks, including mastery of dialects like Kelantanese. Across global metrics, it matches frontier models such as GPT-4o and Llama 3.1.
Yeoh said ILMU reflects YTL's commitment to innovation rooted in Malaysia's cultural and intellectual heritage.
"As we introduce this advanced AI model, we aim to empower every Malaysian with accessible, reliable and culturally relevant knowledge. ILMU is not just a technological leap but a national capability that can power smarter systems, drive productivity and create progress that includes everyone – government, businesses and, most importantly, the rakyat," he said.
Beyond the model, YTL has invested in the full AI stack – from local data centres to AI cloud infrastructure in collaboration with Nvidia – and built an ecosystem of more than 10 partners to accelerate adoption.
ILMU's guiding pillars – Intelek (intelligence), Luhur (integrity), Malaysia (local identity) and Untukmu (for you) – underscore its mission to deliver ethical, culturally aware AI for national benefit.
To drive uptake, YTL AI Labs and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation will roll out the ILMU AI Accelerator Programme, offering Malaysian startups, SMEs and global developers up to RM5 million in free API credits, Malaysia Digital status and facilitation of talent passes and work permits.
Early industry partners span automotive, finance, media, healthcare, education and telecoms, including Aco Tech, Ryt Bank, Astro, Media Prima, Yes, Carsome, Swipey, Vision Machina, Vistel, TeeniAI, TrustAI and Mesolitica, demonstrating confidence in ILMU's capabilities and relevance across diverse sectors.
For consumers, ILMUchat (AI Chatbot) will be available for early access on Malaysia Day, 16 September 2025.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2025/08/1259122/ytl-launches-ilmu-malaysias-first-multimodal-ai-rivalling-gpt-4
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