KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Selangor sees cooperation rather than competition between states as key to strengthening Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, said Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
Speaking at the launch of the Selangor AI & Semiconductor Summit (AiSEM), he said this is critical to help the country break into the top 30 economies by the start of the next decade.
“Let me stress that Selangor’s strength in (integrated circuit, or IC) design is not about competing with other states. Instead, I view competition between states as healthy … to achieve a national goal, which is to place Malaysia as a top 30 economy in the world by 2030.
“That is the spirit of this year’s (AiSEM) theme, ‘Building a Globally Competitive AI Semiconductor Ecosystem’,” he said in his speech at the event, held in conjunction with the Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS), at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur today.
Earlier in his speech, Amirudin said Selangor began focusing on IC design to move up the semiconductor value chain and strengthen Malaysia’s position amid growing global supply chain vulnerabilities.
He said while Malaysia has been part of the global semiconductor industry for more than 50 years, it has been focused on assembly, testing and packaging.
“But as the world becomes more fragmented, there is a greater risk of offshoring as supply chains become vulnerable.
“If a country does not adapt and move up the value chain, we stand to lose if a company decides to close shop and move their production elsewhere.”
To address this, he said Selangor established the Malaysia Semiconductor IC Design Park in Puchong in August 2024, followed by a second one in Cyberjaya in November 2025, which houses Southeast Asia’s first Advanced Chip Testing Centre.
The two parks now host 407 engineers across 20 companies, including Malaysian firms and international partners from Taiwan, France, Japan and Australia.
He added that six homegrown chips developed by companies at the IC Design Parks were launched today, covering applications in edge AI, programmable logic, automotive and space power, AI memory, and drone flight control.
“The companies behind these chips are growing, too. In May, SkyeChip (was) listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia, raising RM352 million, with revenue for its 2026 financial year up 29.7 per cent.
“It is not an isolated case. Oppstar, a listed Malaysian IC design company, anchors the park alongside SkyeChip and GreatAsic, and Weeroc Space, whose GaN (gallium nitride) power chip is among the six we launched today, has now completed its second tape-out, the stage at which a chip design is sent for manufacturing.
“This is what we mean when we speak of moving from ‘Made in Malaysia’ to ‘Made by Malaysia’,” Amirudin said.
