Over 10 Years, UiTM Could Produce Malaysia’s First Quantum Technology Experts, Says Deputy PM Zahid
Deputy PM Zahid commits RM500,000 for UiTM’s quantum technology department by 2026, aiming to produce Malaysia’s first quantum experts within a decade.
SEO Title: UiTM Quantum Technology | Deputy PM Zahid, Shah Alam
Deck: Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi issued the call at UiTM Shah Alam, urging the university to establish a dedicated quantum technology department by 2026 and pledging RM500,000 in federal funding to accelerate Malaysia’s entry into the field.
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam became the setting for a pointed policy directive on quantum technology on Wednesday, when Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi urged the institution to establish a dedicated quantum technology department by next year. Speaking at a seminar on Islamic studies held on campus, Zahid framed the push as a matter of national competitiveness, warning that Malaysia risks falling behind on one of the most consequential frontiers in science and engineering. The remarks position UiTM — long regarded as a cornerstone of Bumiputera higher education — at the centre of a broader national ambition to build sovereign capacity in advanced technology. Zahid, who also holds the portfolio of Minister of Rural and Regional Development, announced that his ministry would commit RM500,000 to the university specifically for training and certification programmes and the structural development of the proposed department.
Weeks Out From Year-End, And UiTM Is Already Being Handed A 2026 Mandate
With the 2025 academic calendar nearing its close, Zahid’s directive arrives at a moment when universities across Malaysia are finalising faculty plans and budget allocations for the coming year. The call was not issued in a technical forum or an industry conference — it came from within UiTM’s own walls, during a seminar on Islamic scholarly thought, lending the announcement an air of institutional urgency rather than distant policy aspiration.
This is not a simple endorsement of an emerging technology.
It is a structural demand — a call for a new academic department, a timeline of one year for its establishment, a ten-year horizon for producing credentialed experts, and a federal financial commitment to back it up.
The funding pledge of RM500,000 from the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development signals that quantum technology development is being linked, at least in part, to the ministry’s broader mandate of reducing regional and socioeconomic gaps — a framing that could shape how UiTM positions its quantum programme in terms of student access and curriculum focus.
From Artificial Intelligence to Quantum Mechanics, A New Layer Of Technology Ambition Is About To Unfold
Zahid acknowledged that Malaysia’s implementation of artificial intelligence has been proceeding “very well” — a characterisation that sets up quantum technology as the logical next chapter rather than a replacement. The distinction matters for understanding the sequencing of Malaysia’s technology strategy: AI infrastructure is treated as a foundation already being laid; quantum capability is framed as the frontier that cannot be deferred.
Quantum technology, as Zahid’s remarks implicitly invoked, operates on principles drawn from quantum mechanics — superposition, entanglement, and the behaviour of subatomic particles — that allow quantum computers to process information at speeds and scales fundamentally beyond classical computing. These are not incremental improvements to existing systems but a different paradigm of computation altogether, with implications for cryptography, pharmaceutical research, logistics optimisation, and national security.
According to the terms of the announcement, UiTM is being asked to establish the quantum technology department within the 2026 academic year. The RM500,000 earmarked by the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development is intended to cover both training and certification programmes — suggesting an initial focus on building a credentialed academic workforce before broader student enrolment scales up — and the administrative and structural costs of standing up the department itself.
The proposed department would join a landscape of nascent quantum initiatives across the region, where Singapore, South Korea, and China have already committed multi-year, multi-billion-dollar national quantum strategies. Malaysia’s entry point, by contrast, is being anchored in a single university mandate and a half-million ringgit seed commitment — a modest but symbolically significant start.
Behind The Ten-Year Horizon Is An Experiment In ‘Sovereign Talent Pipeline’ Building
The real story here is not the RM500,000 pledge, but the human capital mechanism Zahid is attempting to activate.
Zahid stated explicitly that he was confident Malaysia could produce quantum technology experts within ten years — a projection that frames UiTM not merely as a teaching institution but as a national talent factory for an emerging strategic discipline. The ten-year timeline is notable: it aligns with roughly two to three full academic cohort cycles, suggesting an expectation that the first graduates of a UiTM quantum programme could be entering the workforce by the mid-2030s.
For that pipeline to function, participants in the early programme would need to move through foundational quantum mechanics training, specialised engineering and computing applications, industry certification, and eventually postgraduate research pathways — a sequence that requires faculty recruitment, laboratory infrastructure, and curriculum development well beyond what RM500,000 alone can sustain.
The funding announcement therefore reads less as a complete financing solution and more as a political signal — an indication that federal resources will flow toward the initiative, with the expectation that UiTM will mobilise additional institutional and potentially private-sector support. Whether industry partnerships, international academic collaborations, or additional ministry allocations follow will determine whether the ten-year expert-production target becomes a credible outcome or remains an aspirational benchmark.
The strategic ambition embedded in Zahid’s remarks is to shift UiTM from a consumer of technology trends into a generator of the human capital that Malaysia’s quantum future will depend on.
UiTM Shah Alam’s Scale And National Reach Give The Mandate A Broad Talent Base
The choice of UiTM as the institution tasked with this mandate is itself a strategic decision worth noting.
UiTM is Malaysia’s largest university by enrolment, with a nationwide network of campuses that extends the reach of any programme launched at its Shah Alam flagship well beyond the Klang Valley. A quantum technology department established at the main campus would, in principle, create a model that can be replicated or extended to branch campuses — multiplying the talent pipeline Zahid envisions.
Sourced from the deputy prime minister’s public remarks, the projected timeline for the department’s establishment is 2026, with the ten-year expert-production horizon placing the first cohort of Malaysian quantum specialists in the market by approximately 2035. The official external commitment, as stated publicly, stands at “RM500,000 from the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development.”
Public information confirms the initiative is jointly driven by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his ministerial capacity and UiTM as the implementing institution. At the time of reporting, no formal announcement of the department’s name, faculty appointments, curriculum framework, or enrolment targets has been issued by UiTM’s administration. The university’s official response to the directive — and the timeline for its formal establishment — remains in progress.
Frequently Asked Questions About UiTM Quantum Technology
What did Deputy PM Zahid announce regarding UiTM and quantum technology? Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called on Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam to establish a dedicated quantum technology department by 2026, stating that Malaysia must not fall behind current global advancements in the field.
How much funding has been pledged for UiTM’s quantum technology department? Zahid’s Ministry of Rural and Regional Development has pledged RM500,000 to UiTM for training and certification programmes and the development of the quantum technology department, as announced during a seminar at UiTM Shah Alam.
When does Zahid expect Malaysia to produce quantum technology experts? Zahid stated he was confident that Malaysia could produce qualified quantum technology experts within ten years of establishing the relevant academic infrastructure — placing the first potential cohort of graduates in the workforce by approximately 2035.
What is quantum technology and why is UiTM being asked to focus on it? Quantum technology is an advanced scientific and engineering discipline that applies principles of quantum mechanics — including superposition and entanglement of subatomic particles — to build systems such as quantum computers, which can process information at speeds far exceeding classical computers. Zahid cited it as the next major technological frontier after artificial intelligence.
Has UiTM confirmed it will establish the quantum technology department? As of the date of Zahid’s remarks at UiTM Shah Alam, the university had not issued a formal confirmation of the department’s establishment, its name, curriculum, or faculty appointments. The deputy prime minister’s call constitutes a public directive; UiTM’s formal administrative response is pending.
Why is the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development funding a quantum technology programme? Zahid holds the concurrent portfolio of Minister of Rural and Regional Development alongside the deputy prime ministership. The RM500,000 allocation from that ministry suggests the initiative is framed, at least in part, within a mandate to reduce socioeconomic and regional capability gaps — consistent with UiTM’s broader role in expanding access to higher education for Bumiputera students.
Where did Zahid make these remarks about quantum technology? Ahmad Zahid Hamidi made the remarks at a seminar on Islamic studies held at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in Shah Alam, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.
A Directive With A Deadline And A Decade-Long Ambition
The announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Zahid at UiTM Shah Alam represents one of the most direct federal-level calls for a Malaysian public university to enter the quantum technology space, backed by an immediate funding pledge and a ten-year talent production target. Whether UiTM moves swiftly enough to meet the 2026 department-establishment timeline — and whether RM500,000 proves sufficient to seed a credible academic programme — will be closely watched by both the higher education sector and Malaysia’s technology policy community.
For more information on UiTM quantum technology developments, readers may contact:
Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam Persiaran Maktab, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia Official website: www.uitm.edu.my General enquiry line: +603-5544 2000 Official Facebook: facebook.com/UiTMOfficial Official Instagram: @uitmofficial Official X (formerly Twitter): @UiTMOfficial
Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKDW) Official website: www.kkdw.gov.my Official Facebook: facebook.com/kkdwmalaysia
