KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Malaysia has the strongest semiconductor ecosystem in Southeast Asia, making it the preferred destination for collaboration among major technology players from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China and the United States.
Investment, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Sim Tze Tzin said Malaysia’s ecosystem spans the entire semiconductor value chain, including downstream suppliers, vendors, materials providers, machine manufacturers, as well as advanced assembly, testing and equipment (ATE) capabilities.
“This is the complete ecosystem that exists only in Southeast Asia and only in Malaysia,” he told a press conference after the Oppstar Bhd-Tokyo Artisan Intelligence Co Ltd signing ceremony here today.
In his keynote address, Sim said Malaysia has mastered assembly, testing and packaging, capturing an impressive 13 per cent share of the global chip testing and packaging market.
He said this achievement has created millions of jobs, strengthened the economy and earned the trust of the world’s largest multinational corporations.
However, he said the government cannot afford to be complacent as the global technology landscape rapidly shifts towards an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven economy.
“This is why the National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) demands that we aggressively move up the value chain into front-end and back-end integrated circuit (IC) design.
“Our goal is no longer just to execute other nations’ manufacturing blueprints, but to create, own and co-create the intellectual property (IP) that powers next-generation global technology,” he said.
Oppstar, an IC design services provider in Malaysia, signed a strategic collaboration framework with Tokyo Artisan Intelligence, establishing a concrete Japan-Malaysia industrial cooperation framework.
The partnership brings together Japan’s cutting-edge AI implementation capabilities and market expertise with Malaysia’s strong semiconductor design talent and IC/system-on-chip engineering capabilities.
In a joint statement, the parties said they would explore the development and commercialisation of high-efficiency, low-power AI semiconductor chips optimised for edge computing, Radio Access Network applications and energy-efficient infrastructure.
“The initial phase focuses on adapting Tokyo Artisan Intelligence’s hardware-efficient AI vision and deep learning algorithms into custom, reconfigurable silicon designs developed by Oppstar.
“These solutions will target widespread applications across global industries, including railways, smart manufacturing and logistics,” it said.
