Malaysian semiconductor firms must aim beyond national confines and explore global markets, Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said at the launch of a training initiative by Arm and the Advanced Semiconductor Academy of Malaysia (Asem).
“As Asean chair, our companies must broaden their horizons to view this 680 million-strong market as a place to export chips. We cannot limit our thinking to within our borders; we must have the foresight to expand and maximise potential in Southeast Asia, as well as in markets like China, India, Brazil, and Africa.
“These five regions are the fastest-growing populations in the world, and their people will need access to these chips as consumers of the modern digital economy. That, I believe, is where future opportunities lie,” he said during the event at Monash University Malaysia today.
The Menteri Besar expressed confidence that the collaboration between Arm and Asem will help produce 10,000 engineers in Selangor over the next decade, aligning with the state’s ambition to strengthen its role in the semiconductor sector.
He stressed the need for Malaysia to move up the value chain with intellectual property ownership, stating: “This is so these chips are not just labelled ‘Assembled in Selangor’, but ‘Designed in Selangor’, or ‘Made in Malaysia’.”
Highlighting global demand for advanced chips, Amirudin said Malaysia, particularly Selangor, can no longer afford to be a “bit part player” in an industry forecast to dominate the global economy for the next 30 years.
He added that the programme would support the state’s pledge to create 100,000 high-quality jobs for youth, a promise made in the 2023 state election campaign. Since then, Selangor’s economy has expanded by RM48.1 billion to RM432.1 billion, contributing 26.2% of the national GDP last year.
“Today’s (Asem-Arm) partnership will seek to accelerate this by training 10,000 local engineers in the fields of chip design, manufacturing, and assembly, which will go on to power systems and supercomputers in the not-too-distant future,” he said.
Selangor Journal