MULTINATIONAL data storage and semiconductor giant Micron Memory Malaysia Sdn Bhd is optimistic of a better year ahead despite concerns over a sluggish global supply chain amid an uncertain global economy.
Micron Malaysia vice-president and country manager Amarjit Singh Sandhu said the company expects the global market to improve next year in line with the consolidation of the global supply chain, especially with the fine-tuning of the supply and demand factors.
Coming out of the Covid-19 lockdowns, there were mismatches in the global supply chain, which caused either a glut or shortage for some areas.
“Now with a longer time away from the Covid-19 period, we expect companies to sort out their inventories so they can better handle demand, orders and supplies.
“The future remains bright in this digitalisation age, and we at Micron have a major role to play in supplying the components, including in the fast-emerging artificial intelligence (AI) field and for the 5G network,” Amarjit said in an interview.
Amarjit also does not see the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe impacting the company too much, as it does not have much exposure to those areas.
Micron, which is headquartered in Idaho, in the United States, is said to be a leading memory storage parts manufacturer and it sits 136th among the Fortune 500 companies.
It has produced some 54,000 patents and has a workforce of 43,000 in 17 countries.
And with the global market for memory storage estimated at USD$1 trillion (RM4.7 trillion) with Micron having 30% of the market share, there is much to be optimistic about.
In Malaysia, Amarjit said it is involved in the manufacturing of semiconductors and also in memory, computer data storage including dynamic random-access memory, flash memory, and USB flash drives.
There are testing facilities on its premises while research and development are also undertaken.
The future will see Malaysia’s role growing as more devices have chips embedded inside – from laptops to mobile intelligent devices, AI and security data centres.
Also, with the country’s move to host data centres and adopting electric vehicles, where many chips need to be installed, it is an area which Micron can tap into, said Amarjit.
To embrace the industrial revolution 4.0 and the digitalisation which comes with it, Amarjit said the country needs to produce technical and engineering talent.
Hence, Micron is heavily involved in the science, technical, engineering and mathematics fields where it is willing to help the education authorities produce more talents in such spheres, he said,
Ninety per cent of Micron Malaysia’s employees are locals.
Recently, it also celebrated its 45 years of innovation with the inauguration of its hi-tech assembly and test facility in Batu Kawan, Penang, which was launched by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
Micron invested USD$1 billion, and will add another billion over the next few years in Penang to its increase factory space to almost 140,000sq m.
This expansion enables Micron Malaysia to boost production output and further strengthen its assembly and test capabilities, allowing it to supply leading-edge NAND, PCDRAM and SSD modules to meet the growing demand for transformative technologies such as AI and autonomous or electric vehicles.
The Batu Kawan facility distinguishes itself by adopting smart manufacturing applications to optimise efficiency, yield, and production quality, ensuring Micron continues to deliver world-class products efficiently and reliably. – The Vibes, December 12, 2023.
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