Deputy Miti minister: Malaysia has five- to 10-year window to seize opportunity from global supply chain reorganisation

Deputy Miti minister: Malaysia has five- to 10-year window to seize opportunity from global supply chain reorganisation

11 Jun 2024

Malaysia’s window of opportunity to develop itself into a semiconductor powerhouse is deemed small, as the period spans just five to 10 years amid the realignment of the global supply chain, according to Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong.

Due to the current US-China trade war and the reorganisation of the global supply chain, Malaysia now has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to grow at a high speed, Liew said in his speech at Invest Asean 2024 held in Penang on Monday. Liew’s speech is also available on his website.

“Malaysia has a second chance and a small window of opportunity to develop itself into a more dynamic, resilient and ‘sticky’ supply chain that would bring more technology owners to invest here, and to grow more Malaysian technology owners,” he said.

Liew said that over the past several months, Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, specifically the Penang-Kulim cluster, has been in the global limelight.

He noted that Malaysia contributes to 7% of global semiconductor trade, 13% of global back-end trade, and 23% of the US’ semiconductor trade.

“We want to be a nation getting rich by developing technologies, and not just getting rich by buying and selling lands or oils or minerals,” he said.

Liew said the government’s newly announced National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) showcases the current administration’s effort to raise the game for the semiconductor industry, and to place the attention of everyone, including the government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment corporations (GLICs), on the sector.

“At the same time, we are clear-eyed. The Penang and Kulim experience will guide us into the future: that we need quality FDIs (foreign direct investments), we need to build an even stronger ecosystem as today’s corporations care very much about supply chain resilience, and to grow to greater heights, we need to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in technology,” he said.

Source: The Edge Markets