Over $100 billion (RM467 billion) will be invested in integrated circuit design and production machinery for Malaysia’s semiconductor industry.
This is according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a statement on Tuesday.
Malaysia is a significant participant in the semiconductor sector, handling 13% of the testing and packaging done worldwide.
Leading companies, including Intel and Infineon, have invested billions of dollars in it in recent times.
The government of the country has already set aside around $5.3 billion to help achieve these objectives, but Anwar did not specify when the entire sum will be invested.
Anwar added that Malaysia wanted to establish ten design and advanced packaging chip businesses with $200 million to $1 billion in annual sales.
Newsng understands that as the country looks to move beyond backend chip assembly and testing and into high-value, front-end design work, Malaysia also plans to construct Southeast Asia’s largest integrated circuit design park and is looking to offer incentives like tax breaks and subsidies to attract global tech companies and investors.
“Our vision is to create an ecosystem driven by dynamic Malaysian firms and world-class talent — while partnering with global companies — to compete regionally and globally based on innovation and creativity,” Anwar said on Tuesday, announcing the strategy at the Semicon Southeast Asia 2024 trade show in Kuala Lumpur.
“Today, I offer our nation as the most neutral and non-aligned location for semiconductor production to help build a more secure and resilient global semiconductor supply chain.”
Anwar added that 60,000 people are to be trained in all facets of chipmaking, including design, packaging, and testing, as part of this goal.
Universities and organisations will be involved in the training programme.
We earlier reported that Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, has launched a KRW26 trillion ($19.1 billion) support package that includes financial, infrastructure, R&D, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
