News & Reviews:   singapore

Six payment networks from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a global standard for cardless cross-border payments.

In a significant move for gamers across Southeast Asia, Nintendo confirmed today that its much-anticipated Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Switch Online services will officially launch in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on 18 November 2025. This marks a major milestone as the company expands its digital ecosystem to more global markets.

Since 30 September 2025, many Malaysians have utilised the BUDI95 programme. However, this also created a new problem: Malaysians residing in Singapore are effectively locked out. With this, the Malaysian government will create a new pathway to allow citizens holding Singapore driving licences to access the BUDI95 fuel subsidy.

Yes, you read the news right. Hotlink is introducing its new Hotlink Travel SIM. It was designed for both inbound tourists visiting Malaysia and Malaysians heading to neighbouring countries with 5G connectivity and unlimited internet.

Grab is currently in discussions with the Johor state government to enhance cross-border travel between Malaysia and Singapore. The collaboration is part of a broader plan to improve tourist mobility and digital integration ahead of Visit Johor Year 2026.

Starting 1 July 2025, the Malaysian Government will implement full enforcement of the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) at the Malaysia-Singapore land border. Foreign vehicle owners are required to register and activate the VEP before entering Malaysia.

Malaysia will tighten the flow of sales of server machines containing NVIDIA chips after Singapore detected a case of smuggling them to China through the country. According to a report by the Financial Times, which quoted the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, the action was taken after Malaysia received pressure from the United States.

Two weeks ago, three suspects were arrested in Singapore for allegedly smuggling US-made servers to China via Malaysia. In a hearing yesterday, prosecutors revealed that the value of the smuggled servers reached $390 million (~RM 1.7 billion), with the three suspects making huge profits from their illegal activities. So, what should you know about it?

The US Commerce Department is reportedly looking into whether Chinese firm DeepSeek used restricted AI chips from Nvidia to develop its ground-breaking open-source AI model. Furthermore, the department suspects that DeepSeek may have used smuggled AI chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China.

Grab today announced they have taken over a Singapore-based restaurant booking platform, called Chope. For now, the takeover price has not been announced by either party. With this takeover step, it simultaneously re-establishes Grab's position in the "online-to-offline" area while also helping sellers to get more customers.