Selangor eyes ten homegrown IC design firms in five years
30 Jul 2024
Selangor has set an ambitious goal of nurturing at least 10 home-grown integrated circuit (IC) design companies within the next five years as it shifts the focus towards the semiconductor industry’s front-end.
State executive councillor for investment, trade, and mobility Ng Sze Han said the landmark development of the Selangor IC Design Park in Puchong, scheduled for launch next week, is crucial to move Malaysia up the semiconductor value chain.
While states like Penang and Kedah are currently heavily focused on back-end processes like packaging and testing, it is Selangor’s goal of emphasising on the front-end of design and innovation.
“I believe it will create a very big economic impact on Selangor and Malaysia. What we want to see is the cultivation of homegrown semiconductor talents and companies that can compete on a global scale.
“At this moment, Malaysia is very strong on the back-end. What we are focusing on is the front-end. We want to help Malaysia build a more complete ecosystem.
“So, our target for the next five years is to hopefully develop ten homegrown IC design companies,” he said as a guest during a recent BFM’s Top Story podcast.
Ng added that Selangor is also working closely with the Federal government to attract more quality IC design firms into the country and retain local talents, with the Selangor IC Design Park an example of efforts undertaken by the state to realise these goals.
He said the park is expected to create about 300 high-paying engineering jobs, with competitive starting salaries of between RM5,000 and RM7,000 for fresh graduates.
“The ripple effect from this will benefit other businesses and industries as well, including restaurants, real estate, and logistics.
Earlier today, Selangor Journal reported Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation’s chief executive officer Yong Kai Ping as saying that the state is looking to launch an IC Design Park every year until 2028.
He said Selangor wants to leverage the success of its first IC Design Park in Puchong, which is already at full capacity, with plans already underway for more similar parks in the coming years.
On what Selangor is doing to ensure its local workforce is competent enough to fill up vacancies following an increase in investments, Ng said the state government is developing different types of upskilling programmes in collaboration with industry players.
Previously, it was reported that Selangor had secured 363 projects valued at RM12.4 billion in the first three months of this year, creating 8,377 employment opportunities.
The investment value represents a 66.8 per cent increase from the RM7.44 billion in the same quarter of the preceding year.
Meanwhile, when asked how Selangor is managing the increased demand for power and water as a result of the development of more data centres in the state, the councillor said Selangor will have to carefully decide which of these projects are the most needed.
He cited Google’s US$2 billion (RM9.25 billion) investment in Malaysia as an example, which will include the development of its first Google data centre and Google Cloud region at the Elmina Business Park in Sungai Buloh.
The investment is expected to generate over 26,000 jobs across various sectors including healthcare, education, and finance, and is crucial to the semiconductor ecosystem.
Source: Selangor Journal
