The Malaysian government announced an investment of $5.33 billion for the coming ten years under the National Semiconductor Strategy.
After various attempts, the Southeast Asian nation Malaysia has now officially commenced its first ever Integrated Circuit (IC) design hub in the country, the most crucial step taken to move ahead in the global value chain. The nation is now considered to be the third largest economy in the entire Southeast Asia and most importantly, it provides 20 percent of semiconductors to the US.
The Malaysian government is now looking forward to bringing more innovation in design and research of semiconductors. The economy minister of Malaysia, Rafizi Ramli stated that amid the augmenting geopolitical scuffles, the country must benefit from the “once in a generation” opportunity to become a global powerhouse in the semiconductor industry.
In an interaction with Nikkei Asia, Rafizi said, “Today is the first step for us to get everyone in Malaysia to reimagine where we want to be. The difference is the understanding that great plans do not become a success if we wait for everything to be perfect to fall into place. It has to happen in parallel with the perspective we have known all along that we have to move up the value chain.”
The IC design hub spreads over 60,000 square feet, which is located close to Kuala Lumpur’s financial corporate center. The newly opened semiconductor park has the capability of accommodating more than 400 chip designers from both JVs and in-house. Some of the companies, which are now located in the park are Taiwan’s Phison subsidiary Maistorage, French-Malaysian partnership Weeroc, Taiwanese-Malaysian joint venture AppAsia, China’s ChipsBank and local players like Skyechip and Sensorem Tek.
The month after the Park started operating, the government announced an investment of $5.33 billion for the coming ten years under the National Semiconductor Strategy. Selangor is the new destination for IC design space, while Penang is already well established as the key semiconductor destination for the country. In the meantime, the state government of Selangor is working to establish another top-notch semiconductor park in Cyberjaya and is also planning to commence five other parks in the coming five years.
