Guan Eng welcomes Chow’s wooing of Chinese semiconductor firms

FORMER Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng has welcomed his successor’s push to woo three China semiconductor firms, who are now considering pumping in US$100 million worth of foreign direct investment into the state.

“I welcome (Chief Minister) Chow (Kon Yeow)’s announcement in the expression of interest by three China semiconductor companies, who are considering investing US$100 million.

“It would bolster Penang’s back-end manufacturing ecosystem. These companies were brought in by Penang-based Blue Chip Venture Capital, who happen to be one of the main global fund partners of  Sidec’s Integrated Circuit (IC) design park.”

Sidec is the acronym for the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation.

Lim said that Penang should learn from Selangor’s success to set up a semiconductor accelerator and IC design park.

“Penang should leverage its current lead in back-end chip manufacturing to establish front-end IC design work. IC design will help to design microchips that are fundamental building blocks for electronic devices from smartphones to supercomputers,” said Lim, who is DAP chairman, in a statement.

A front-end semiconductor accelerator and IC design park would reinforce Penang’s position as the Silicon Valley of Malaysia.

“I will be meeting Chow as to why he feels Penang may not need an IC design park or there is no problem not having an IC design park as there are already many related companies in the state,” said Lim.

On April 22, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the KL20 Summit 2024 announced a plan for the semiconductor accelerator and IC design hub under Sidec.

The project involves four strategic partners namely the Softbank-owned Arm Holdings, the Shenzhen Semiconductor Industry Association, Penang-based IC designer SkyeChip Sdn Bhd and Malaysia AI Storage (MaiStorage) or Phison.

Penang companies like SkyeChip, Phison and Blue Chip Venture Capital should be incentivised to focus fully in Penang, instead of diverting their business or resources to Selangor. Selangor has the vision to set up an IC design park in only six months.

With incentives of RM125 million from the Selangor and federal governments and another RM75 million from the private sector, many companies, including those from Penang, will be attracted to do the front-end IC design work there, Lim said.

Penang should participate fully, if not take the lead to align with Putrajaya’s goal of shifting the focus of the local tech sector from back-end chip manufacturing to high-value front-end design work, he added. – The Vibes, April 28, 2024.