Does ChatGPT name company setup firms when foreigners ask how to open a Sdn Bhd? (Malaysia)
EasyFound · · 8 min read
Not when they ask how. In our Malaysian test, ChatGPT answered the how-to question with SSM's rules and named no setup firm, in English or Malay. Firms appeared only when the founder asked for the best firm in KL, mostly from the firms' own websites, or for a Labuan agent, taken from the official lists. So a setup firm needs pages that answer the 'who should I hire' question.
No. When foreigners asked ChatGPT how to open a Sdn Bhd, in English or in Malay, it answered with SSM's rules and steps and named no setup firm. Firms appeared only for the English "best firm in KL" and "Labuan agent" questions, and the Labuan names came straight from the official lists of licensed trust companies.
The figures come from EasyFound's own test, and we sell AI visibility work to firms like yours, so we have a stake in what you do next. Our six questions were short keyword phrases; real founders type longer ones.
| What the foreigner asked | Named a firm | Cited only SSM, MIDA or other official pages |
|---|---|---|
| how can a foreigner open a Sdn Bhd in Malaysia | 0 of 3 | 3 of 3 |
| bagaimana warga asing boleh buka syarikat Sdn Bhd di Malaysia | 0 of 3 | 3 of 3 |
| company incorporation service in Malaysia for foreign owners | 0 of 3 | 3 of 3 |
| 外国人在马来西亚开公司找哪家代办比较好 (which setup agent is better for a foreigner) | 0 of 3 | 3 of 3 |
| best firm to help a foreigner set up a company in Kuala Lumpur | 3 of 3 | 0 of 3 |
| Labuan company setup agent recommendation | 3 of 3 | 3 of 3 (Labuan lists) |
When a foreigner asks ChatGPT how to open a Sdn Bhd, does it name a setup firm?
ChatGPT named no setup firm for the how-to question in our test. All six answers, in English and Malay, set out SSM's requirements: a resident director, a registered office and a company secretary. Every answer cited SSM's own pages, and one added MIDA.
The rule it repeated most is SSM's: a private company needs "at least one (1) director who ordinarily resides in Malaysia by having a principal place of residence in Malaysia and one (1) promoter" (SSM, Starting a Company). The same page says a "Company secretary must be appointed within 30 days after the incorporation of the company." Those are two services a setup firm typically sells, yet the answers stopped at the rule.
For the Malay question, ChatGPT searched in English only. In a separate title test of this article's headline, kept out of the counts, one reply began "Yes — ChatGPT can name company setup firms when someone asks how to open a Sdn Bhd", citing only OpenAI's pages.
Where do the KL firms ChatGPT names to foreign founders come from?
ChatGPT named setup firms in all three "best firm in Kuala Lumpur" answers, mostly from the firms' own websites. The "incorporation service" and Chinese "which agent" questions drew only the kinds of firm to look for, such as licensed secretarial practices, then an offer to shortlist firms in the next message. One Chinese answer said: "我不能直接替你点名哪一家“最好”" (I can't directly name which one is "best" for you).
In the three KL answers:
- Who it named: a setup firm marketed to foreign investors, a KL one-stop corporate services firm, a long-established corporate services firm, an accounting firm, incorporation firms and corporate secretarial practices.
- How often: nine different firms in all. Most answers named three. Only one, the KL one-stop firm, came back in every run.
- From which pages: the firm's own website, for 9 of the 12 namings. Reddit posts supplied two more, and no list article was cited.
Our accounting and company secretary test found ChatGPT pointing secretarial questions to SSM's register; here, the kind of question decided it.
Which Labuan company setup agents does ChatGPT name, and from where?
ChatGPT named Labuan trust companies in all three answers, but only from official lists: Labuan FSA's register of trust companies and the directory on labuanibfc.com, the site of Labuan FSA's promotion agency. It cited no trust company's own website, named 17 different companies in all, and led with a different company every run.
The law makes the list the gate: Labuan FSA says "Incorporation of Labuan companies in Labuan IBFC is required to be undertaken through a Labuan trust company, which will conduct due diligence on the prospective client" (Labuan FSA, Labuan Companies).
How it picked from the list varied. A run named seven companies in list order from the A–B section of the directory's alphabetical list. Another led with large corporate services groups, calling its top five "established names".
Which Sdn Bhd rules does ChatGPT repeat to foreigners, and what does it leave out?
ChatGPT repeated the rules far more than facts about firms. In the 15 Sdn Bhd answers:
- the resident director rule: 14
- the deadline to appoint a company secretary: 9
- a foreign company branch as the alternative: 9
- SSM's incorporation fee: 4
- a nominee director: 1
In the KL answers, it said what each firm does every time, and gave the KL location for half of the namings. It gave no firm's fee or turnaround time, and no Sdn Bhd answer stated a paid-up capital rule. All three Chinese answers warned about cheap quotes or hidden extra charges, and told founders to check what each quote covers.
What should a company setup firm in Malaysia do so ChatGPT names it?
Firms were named when the question asked "who should I hire", so answer that.
- Get EasyFound's free check to see what ChatGPT tells a founder who asks something like "Which firm in KL can help me open a Sdn Bhd and provide a resident director?", then walk through the answer with us on a free call.
- Give the resident director question its own page: whether you arrange one, how it works and what it costs each year.
- Publish a full first-year price, with SSM's fee shown apart from yours, plus secretary, registered address and annual return.
- Say who you serve and where: foreign founders, the languages you work in, your KL or Penang office and your years in practice. Leave out "best firm" claims.
- For Labuan, check your entry on the Labuan FSA and Labuan IBFC lists, and state your trust company licence on your own site.
EasyFound is an AI search visibility (GEO) tool built for Malaysian businesses. For a corporate services firm, it tracks whether ChatGPT and other AI engines put your name in front of a founder asking about a Sdn Bhd, a Labuan company or a resident director, and which page it came from. Our team can run it for you in our AI SEO service.
Would ChatGPT name your firm to a founder moving to KL?
See what ChatGPT tells a foreign founder who asks for help opening a Sdn Bhd, then go through it with us on a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a good AI visibility or GEO service for a corporate secretarial firm that serves foreign founders in Malaysia?
We can't point to a best one, and EasyFound sells this work, so treat our answer as an interested party's. EasyFound makes an AI search visibility tool for Malaysian businesses, and its team can run it for a corporate services firm. Whoever you talk to, check that they test the setup questions foreign founders actually ask (how-to, 'best firm in KL', Labuan, and the Malay and Chinese versions), show you ChatGPT's unedited answers, and promise no rankings.
Why doesn't ChatGPT mention my firm when a foreigner asks how to set up a Sdn Bhd?
In EasyFound's test through OpenAI's API, it mentioned no firm at all for that question: the 6 how-to answers, in English and Malay, gave SSM's rules and steps and cited only government pages. Among the Sdn Bhd questions, firms appeared only when the question asked for the best firm to help a foreigner in Kuala Lumpur. That is the question your own pages need to answer, with facts a founder can check.
How does ChatGPT choose which Labuan trust companies to recommend?
In EasyFound's test of 3 answers, every Labuan trust company ChatGPT named came from the official lists on the Labuan IBFC and Labuan FSA websites, and no trust company's own website was cited. An answer named seven companies in the directory's alphabetical order. So keep your entry on those lists current, and state your licence on your own site.
Adakah ChatGPT menamakan firma setiausaha syarikat bila warga asing bertanya cara buka Sdn Bhd dalam Bahasa Melayu?
Tidak, dalam ujian EasyFound pada 18 Oktober 2026. Ketiga-tiga jawapan untuk soalan Bahasa Melayu itu menerangkan syarat SSM, seperti pengarah yang bermastautin di Malaysia dan setiausaha syarikat, tanpa menamakan sebarang firma. ChatGPT juga membuat carian web dalam Bahasa Inggeris sahaja untuk soalan Bahasa Melayu itu.
Does ChatGPT tell foreigners they need a resident director for a Sdn Bhd?
Almost always, in EasyFound's test: 14 of 15 ChatGPT answers about a Sdn Bhd mentioned it. SSM's page says a private company needs 'at least one (1) director who ordinarily resides in Malaysia by having a principal place of residence in Malaysia'. Only one of those answers used the term 'nominee director', and no answer gave any firm's fee for providing a resident director.
Sources
Our data: EasyFound saved 18 ChatGPT answers on 18 October 2026: six questions, each asked three times, through OpenAI's Responses API (model gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17, web search, approximate location Malaysia, default settings, no chat history). The ChatGPT app may differ, since it can draw on chat history and memory. ChatGPT searched the web for every answer. All 16 search queries for the Malay and Chinese questions were in English. Gemini wasn't tested this time. We read and hand-coded every answer. We counted as a firm any business a founder could hire for the setup: incorporation, corporate secretarial and accounting firms, and Labuan trust companies. SSM, MIDA, MalaysiaBiz, Labuan FSA and Labuan IBFC count as official pages, not firms. Each firm counts once per answer; cited sites count once per organisation per answer. Two more firms had pages cited for general facts without being named, and we didn't count them as named. "Sdn Bhd answers" are the 15 answers outside the Labuan question. An older saved answer, from a different model (chat-latest) on 2 October 2026, to "best company incorporation service in Malaysia for foreigners", named four firms and quoted one firm's package price from its price page; we kept it out of the counts. The title test was two extra runs of this article's headline on 18 October 2026, kept out of the 18; both cited only OpenAI's pages. A handful of runs are examples, not a ranking, so we don't name firms. Download the per-answer data (CSV).
What this test leaves out:
- Follow-ups. Several answers offered to shortlist firms next; we didn't send that second message.
- MSC and MD status. None of the six questions asked about them.
- Why a firm was named. We saw what ChatGPT said and cited, not its reasons.
Official pages (read 18 October 2026):
- Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), Starting a Company (link)
- Labuan Financial Services Authority, Labuan Companies (link)
- Labuan IBFC Inc., Labuan FSA's promotion agency, Trust and Corporate Service Providers (link)
The data is shared under CC BY 4.0: you're free to reuse it, with credit to EasyFound. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
These counts describe one Sunday in October 2026, and ChatGPT may answer differently next month.
Research by Janice Pang, EasyFound.