Malaysia is now known as one of the most important semiconductor technology development hubs in the world after Taiwan, the United States and several other locations, especially when we are seen as the best location for semiconductor chip design and packaging.
Penang, Melaka and Kedah are among the important locations for this industry with Intel, Micron and Infineon among the leading companies that have been based in Malaysia for a long time. A local semiconductor chip design company, namely Sarawak Microelectronics Design or SMD, is seen as wanting to make Sarawak another hub for the development of this technology.
The company is owned by the Sarawak government and developed last year, and has ambitions to become a semiconductor chip designer for a number of global technology companies. Sarawak may be better known for its natural resources such as timber, petroleum and hydrogen, but now it is seen as wanting to develop more sustainable industries.
So far, it has been reported that SMD has already signed agreements for strategic cooperation with several companies from the UK, such as Riverbeck and Big Innovation Centre. The collaboration with Riverbeck will see SMD help to develop radio frequency chips that will benefit the aerospace industry and will be used by companies such as British Aerospace and Turkish Aerospace Malaysia.
Collaboration with the Big Innovation Center will see SMD develop technology that allows semiconductor chips to be manufactured more cleanly and sustainably in Sarawak. The state is one of the states seen to be developing hydrogen gas infrastructure as one of the more environmentally friendly forms of fuel, so it is not surprising to see SMD driving the development of this technology.
The development of the semiconductor technology industry in Sarawak is not something new. In Kuching, the Sama Jaya industrial center has housed a number of foreign technology companies that have developed semiconductor chip factories and research centers such as X-Fab Silicon Foundries and Taiyo Yuden for a long time.
These two companies are seen to have opened a subsidiary in Kuching in early 2000, and are now seen to remain operating in Sama Jaya and X-Fab is seen to be investing as much as 100 million Euros to increase the production of semiconductor wafers from 30,000 to 50,000 per month by 2030.
Another company that will cooperate with SMD is Melexis from Belgium to increase the capacity of semiconductor chip design services and will invest as much as 70 million Euros over five years starting from last year.
So it is not surprising to see that Malaysia alone is involved in 7 percent of the semiconductor industry trade globally, and it is one of the industries that is given emphasis in the country, and if all goes well, Kuching will become another area of Malaysia's Silicon Valley. .