Depending on who you ask, Malaysia is either a very well-known or little-known host of chip packaging facilities, the with the likes of Intel and AMD having their chips made locally. That being the case, the government may be looking to move the local semiconductor industry to the next level, with the announcement of a chip-design hub called the Malaysia Semiconductor IC Design Park.
According to NST, the the 0.6 hectare hub itself being located in Puchong, and is set up by the state and federal government, as well as international partners which include names like British chip maker Arm. The report quotes state Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari as saying that “the primary goal of the part is to promote original design manufacuring, encouring local involvement in product design, prototyping, and production”.
On the other hand, Bloomberg quotes Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli as saying “at some point we want to move away from using chips that are designed elsewhere. We want to see more data centres in Malaysia using chips designed by Malaysians”.
Previously, it was reported that Foxconn and DNeX will be setting up a new plant in Malaysia. Then late last year, Reuters reported that Chinese semiconductor designers and companies are considering getting local companies to be a part of the former’s assembly line.
