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- HONOR Malaysia and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) have signed a two-year agreement to formalise the operation of the HONOR AI Lab at the university’s main campus here.
The Memorandum of Agreement was signed by UPSI Vice-Chancellor Prof. Datuk Dr. Md Amin Md Taff and HONOR General Manager Chen Long. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir witnessed the ceremony at Dewan Tuanku Canselor on the Sultan Azlan Shah Campus.
The lab sits inside the Tuanku Bainun Library and is owned and managed by UPSI’s Faculty of Computing and Meta-Technology (FKMT). The faculty was formed in January 2023 to build AI expertise and runs programmes covering artificial intelligence, data science, robotics and the Internet of Things.
The agreement turns an earlier understanding into a binding commitment. The two sides first signed a memorandum of understanding at HONOR’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, in October 2025, which UPSI described as Southeast Asia’s first AI education laboratory. HONOR Malaysia highlighted the project again in February 2026 during its fifth anniversary celebrations in the country.
Under the agreement, the lab will host workshops, professional certification programmes, student mobility schemes, industrial training, innovation competitions and knowledge-sharing sessions with industry representatives. UPSI lecturers will also gain access to AI computing equipment, development tools and industry-grade hardware to support curriculum work and research.
Md Amin said the lab would connect classroom theory with industry practice. Students can sharpen technical and soft skills while lecturers apply AI tools in teaching and research, he said.
“This collaboration provides the UPSI community with opportunities for hands-on exposure to developments in AI technology, helping to bridge the gap between theoretical learning in lecture halls and its practical applications in industry,” he said.
Chen said the partnership reflects HONOR’s aim to widen access to its AI ecosystem and develop local talent for the technology sector.
“HONOR is committed to bringing the AI ecosystem closer to all users, and this partnership with UPSI is an important step towards empowering the next generation of Malaysian talent. By opening up our industry expertise and working closely with academia, we hope to jointly build a value-sharing ecosystem that benefits students, researchers and the wider community,” he said.
The deal extends HONOR Malaysia’s education spending. The brand marked five years in Malaysia in February with a RM133 million commitment under the Pakej Rahmah programme to widen access to 5G-enabled devices, including subsidised devices across 10 campuses nationwide. HONOR currently leads the Malaysian market in Android sales volume, and chose Malaysia as the first market for its global HONOR 600 launch in April.
University-industry AI laboratories are becoming more common in Malaysia. Universiti Malaya agreed this month to set up a joint AI research lab with China’s Tsinghua University, while Universiti Teknologi Malaysia opened a joint AI and extended reality laboratory with New Zealand’s University of Canterbury in September.
For UPSI, the emphasis is on teacher training. The university trains most of Malaysia’s future educators, and the lab is intended to give student teachers practical AI exposure before they enter classrooms where the technology is already in use.
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