☕️ F1 'Madani tickets', RM16 mil to host F1 in Malaysia

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

32% — According to Deputy PM Fadillah Yusof, Malaysia's renewable energy installed capacity stood at 32% as of Jun 2026, putting the country firmly on course to achieve its target of 35% by 2030. He said this reflects the nation's steady progress in driving its energy transition agenda under the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR). Malaysia achieved 31% renewable energy installed capacity by Dec 2025, with the next milestones set at 35% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. Fadillah, who is also the Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, said that energy transition is not an option, but a strategic necessity to ensure Malaysia's energy security, strengthen economic resilience, attract high-quality investments, and uphold the nation's commitments to the global climate change agenda.

RM6.55 bil — That's the value of the 79 land acquisition transactions conducted in the first half of 2026, of which the largest segment at 37%, or RM2.42 bil in value, was data centre land. The overall capital transactions market also appeared to be land-led rather than asset-led, as seven of the top 10 Bursa-announced capital transactions by value involved land acquisitions. These seven transactions represented RM2.8 bil or 76% of the top 10's total value. Of these seven, five were for data centre assets across Selangor and Johor, accounting for RM2.45 bil in value, with the largest deal being the sale of 136 acres of powered data centre land at IOI Industrial Park Banting to Bridge DC for RM741 mil in Selangor. These transactions point to a broadening of capital deployment and heightened demand for quality operational delivery, according to Knight Frank Malaysia.

RM9.8 bil — According to Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong, that's the size of the allocation being used by six institutions to provide microcredit services to help small businesses. He said the institutions also provide mentorship and facilitate access to digital technology for those businesses, so that they can become more sustainable and competitive. He believes the existing initiatives are performing well and hopes to improve and expand access so that more hawkers can benefit from microcredit facilities. Nationally, Tekun Nasional holds the highest portfolio value, managing 112,120 active loans worth RM4.9 bil (average of ~RM43.7k), while Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia accounts for the highest volume of borrowers, with 159,275 active loans totalling RM1.3 bil (average of ~RM8.2k).

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Businessman paid Bersatu RM19.5 mil for project help
A businessman has told the KL High Court that he paid RM19.5 mil in political contributions to Bersatu after seeking help to secure a RM605.2 mil road project under the Jana Wibawa programme - in case you are wondering, that’s ~3.2% of the project value. Mamfor Sdn Bhd managing director Shahradzi Shamsuddin said he believed the payments would ensure the “continuity and ease” of his business dealings involving the Lingkaran Pulau Indah Phase 3 project.

The contract was awarded in Oct 2022 to Sutracom Sdn Bhd (SSB), a company owned by his brother. Shahradzi said the process began in Dec 2020, when he asked Datuk Ayob Ali, a mutual acquaintance of his and Muhyiddin, to deliver Sutracom’s project proposal to the then prime minister. According to the witness, Muhyiddin later initialled the letter and wrote “no objection”. However, after the government stopped awarding projects through direct negotiations, the application moved to a pre-qualification tender process.

Shahradzi testified that KCJ Engineering Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Azman Yusoff later asked him to contribute to Bersatu after Sutracom received a pre-qualification invitation. Although no amount was specified, Shahradzi estimated that 3% to 4% of the contract value would be suitable. The payments were made by cheque between May 2021 and Nov 2022 using money borrowed from family-linked companies. He said some cheques were left at Bersatu’s HQs without receipts. During cross-examination, Shahradzi stressed that Muhyiddin had never personally requested money from him and that the two had never met. SSB submitted its RM605.2 mil bid in Feb 2022 and secured the project eight months later. Muhyiddin is facing four abuse of power charges involving RM225.3 mil in alleged gratification and three money laundering charges involving RM200 mil.

Sepang gears up for an affordable F1 comeback
Malaysia’s RM16 mil race preparation: Formula 1 is heading back to Sepang, with Malaysia expecting to spend no more than RM16 mil to prepare the circuit for the race. PM Anwar said Bahrain had already covered the substantial upfront payment after its Grand Prix was relocated because of regional security concerns. This means Malaysia will mainly be responsible for minor repairs and maintenance at the Sepang International Circuit, with the work expected to cost between RM10 mil and RM16 mil.

Anwar said the arrangement was far cheaper than the hundreds of millions, or even RM1 bil, that host countries can spend on a Formula 1 race. The government will also focus on safety and smooth operations. The armed forces, police, Immigration Department and Customs Department will help manage the arrival of racing teams and spectators.

Cheaper seats could bring fans closer: Fans may also get a more affordable way to experience the action when the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia takes place from Oct 2 to 4, 2026. Anwar said lower-priced “Madani tickets” could be introduced, although the seats would probably be further from the track rather than in premium viewing areas. The event will sit between the Azerbaijan and Singapore rounds on the Formula 1 calendar.

RM5 bil boost for Malaysian startups
More than RM5 bil in financing will be available to Malaysian start-ups and innovators over the next 18 months, as the government looks to turn more home-grown technologies into commercial success stories. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang said the combined funding pool involves 15 agencies and financial institutions, which include the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation, MBSB Bank and EXIM Bank Malaysia. The money will support companies at different stages of growth, but applicants must meet the requirements set by each institution. It is not an automatic allocation or funding reserved for a single year.

Chang said Malaysia already produces promising ideas in AI, semiconductors, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing and green technology. However, many technologies struggle during the commercialisation stage because they lack financing, partnerships or access to markets. Participating companies can also receive technical assessments, business advice, certification support and help entering new markets. Malaysia ranked 34th among 139 economies in the Global Innovation Index 2025 and climbed to 15th among 70 countries in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2026.

Six charged over RM7 mil PJ kidnapping
Six men accused of kidnapping a 44-year-old man for a RM7 mil ransom were brought to court in Petaling Jaya under tight security. The alleged kidnapping took place on Jul 17. Police investigated eight suspects before the Attorney-General’s Chambers ordered six of them to be charged under the Kidnapping Act 1961 on Jul 24. If convicted, they face between 30 and 40 years in prison and whipping. The other two suspects, a man and a woman, were released and will serve as prosecution witnesses. Funny enough, the rescued victim went from being kidnapped to being detained over suspected links to a drug trafficking syndicate.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

So much money for the A and I
Nvidia got OpenAI’s back in its USD250 bil debt
Well, we saw this coming. Nvidia is providing about USD250 bil (RM1.02 tril) in financial guarantees for OpenAI so that it can lease a 10 GW data centre project from SoftBank’s energy subsidiary in southern Ohio. This will be the first step for OpenAI to reduce reliance on Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle.

Meanwhile, for Nvidia, OpenAI will buy chips from them for years to come. The data centre project is estimated to cost more than USD500 bil, including the chips inside. The financial guarantee covers the data centre lease and debt, but not the chips. On that matter, Nvidia is still discussing financing OpenAI’s chip purchases that could be worth up to USD350 bil.

Naver jumps by 10% with Nvidia’s USD1 bil investment
Keeping the momentum going, Nvidia is investing USD1 bil (RM4.09 bil) to acquire new shares from Naver (owns Line app), a South Korean internet and cloud service provider. Nvidia would hold about 4.5% of Naver. This will be used to finance an AI data centre expansion project in Sejong, South Korea.

The two companies and investment group Brookfield announced that they will be raising USD10 bil in funding. Brookfield will provide USD9 bil. Nvidia will be selling its Vera Rubin and Blackwell chips, and the data centre will have a capacity of 200 MW by 2028.

Both Naver and Nvidia announced an agreement to jointly develop gigawatt-scale global AI infrastructure in South Korea and overseas. For context, Naver’s biggest data centre is GAK Sejong and only has a maximum capacity of about 250 MW. Nvidia CEO hyped Naver up by saying it would be 10 times larger once the vision is realised.

CXMT promises USD5.6 bil for workers after IPO
CXMT, a Chinese AI chipmaker, had a very successful IPO. Share price rose by 466% on its first day of trading, as Zhu Yiming’s fortune as the chairman soared by 300% to USD13.9 bil (RM56.79 bil), and immediately making the company the most valuable listed company on mainland China with market cap of USD485 bil. And he’s keen to reward CXMT’s employees with 40% (worth USD5.6 bil) of his wealth as a bonus to keep them with the company. 

Zhu has promised to transfer 767.9 mil shares for employee incentive programs. But there is a catch. They will only be paid out in three years and will be in phases for over a decade after that. That’s basically like dangling the carrot in front of the employees but strapping it on a donkey for 3 years, and giving them a small slice of it, while promising the remainder over 10 years.

There is much at stake for Zhu as it’s now China’s largest and the world’s fourth largest maker of DRAM chips that are needed to power server databases and AI workloads. It is also making more and more of them for China. But he is putting his skin into the game by committing to holding his shares in the company for 10 years - unusual in the history of Chinese companies that listed on the mainland.

China to strike back if US sanctions Chinese AI companies
It’s the story of model distillation again - that is AI models are training themselves with data from other AI models. That is what Trump is accusing Chinese AI companies of doing - training their models using the data and outputs of US AI models. The US has framed it as ‘intellectual property theft’, but we all know US AI companies did similar things with data and information from original authors of books and articles. Anthropic has recently settled with a group of authors for USD1.5 bil (RM6.13 bil).

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US is carefully examining China’s models for signs of intellectual property theft. China warned the US that it would take ‘all necessary measures’ if the US sanctions Chinese AI companies.

US-Iran
Is the US out of ammo?
The US has stopped its bombing of Iran. And the media is reporting that the US might be running low on air defence interceptors and weapons stock. Trump, of course, denies this. Mike Waltz, US Ambassador to the UN, said that the pause in strikes is to aid talks between the two countries. Iranian-American economist Nader Habibi said that the US stopped due to high oil prices, as there was pressure by domestic and international partners on the Trump administration to find a solution.

The cost of Iran’s strike on Gulf countries was also ‘very high, and the US risked alienating its allies’. Meanwhile, Qatar, Egypt and Pakistan are working with other mediators to reach a new ceasefire between both sides. With both the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea blocked, global oil prices have increased by more than 20% to above USD100 (RM408.55) per barrel.

Iran ‘still in control’ of Strait of Hormuz
After the US halted strikes, Iran did the same. It said that it’s retaliating against US strikes and if the US pauses, it will pause too. Iran said that it was still in control of the Strait of Hormuz and is not seeking to resume talks with the US. Despite news that the US is seeking negotiations, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said that Iran had not asked to resume peace talks with the US. Six ships were turned back in the strait. Trump’s military commanders told Trump that they were running out of targets to strike and that they were concerned over the depletion of air defence weapons that are used to protect US bases in the region.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Fighting the Water

1. How Korean lifeguards train.

2. Disaster experience centre in China - for USD235 (RM959), you can experience typhoons, wind speeds of 165 kmph without risking your life to train for preparedness.

3. Watched The Odyssey on IMAX? How about in 4DX instead? Makes you feel like you are there with Odysseus. Available at GSC. People accidentally buying tickets for 4DX are making the news.