Malaysian Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) Liew Chin Tong. (Photo: thesun.my) KualaLumpur (VNA) – Malaysian Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry(MITI) Liew Chin Tong said the government iscommitted to developing the semiconductor industry which is now a strategicincome source for the country.
Speaking at the parliament on March 26, the deputy minister said trade and technologycompetition between China and the US in the semiconductor industry has benefitedMalaysia.
According to Liew, this competition has ledmultinational semiconductor companies to make strategic decisions to build asecond supply chain and not to focus solely on one country to ensure a secureand resilient supply chain or “derisking”.
He noted that manycompanies have selected Malaysia as a new location for their productionfacilities and the country has an advantage over other nations with a maturesemiconductor industry ecosystem since the 1970s, especially the E&Ecluster in Penang and Kulim, Kedah.
He acknowledged that such investments are expected to continue toposition Malaysia as one of the key investment destinations in advancing theglobal chip industry, and the country should seize this golden opportunity to expandthe country’s semiconductor industry and become a high-value-addedsemiconductor producer with activities along the value chain, such asintegrated circuit (IC) design, wafer fabrication, assembly and testing as wellas technical marketing.
Liew emphasised that thegovernment aims to ensure that investments in Malaysia will create value chainsthat create high-paying skilled jobs, adding that Malaysia wants to create a supply and value chain that encompasses localcompanies. The country aims to create 100 technology companies with an annual revenue of 1billion MYR (213 million USD) before 2030.
Currently, Malaysia only has nine local technology companiesthat can generate 1 billion MYR ayear. Another 10 companies generate between 100 million MYR and 1 billion MYR a year, he said./.
