Malaysia aims to attract foreign investments in EV, chip industries: trade minister
MALAYSIA is scouting for foreign investors in high-value industries such as electric vehicles (EVs), semiconductors and carbon capture, its trade and investment minister said on Thursday (Nov 2).
Malaysia is long known to be a manufacturing hub, and is now hoping to move up the value chain on well-established industries such as energy and electricals.
“We need to look at the right kind of investment. Because some of the investment does not bring in the kind of spillover that we want,” Tengku Zafrul Aziz told Reuters in an interview.
Malaysia is eyeing new areas such as carbon capture, usage and storage because it has a lot of oil wells, and supplying components for EVs, Zafrul said.
EVs are a “natural progression” for Malaysia, which has an established electrical and electronics industry, especially in semiconductor chips, he said.
“That’s why we are pushing very hard, because we supply many of the components to the car,” Zafrul said. Each EV is estimated to have over 1,400 chips.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Asean Business
Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies.
Even in the semiconductor industry, Malaysia wants to develop beyond assembly and testing, he said. The country is a major player in the semiconductor industry, accounting for about 13 per cent of global testing and packaging.
“We want to move to (the) front end, which is integrated circuit design and wafer fabrication,” he said.
Malaysia is also eyeing the aerospace, petrochemicals, digital economy and pharmaceutical industries for foreign investments.
Zafrul said he would be meeting with potential investors in the US next week, ahead of meetings with leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. REUTERS
KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Asean
Malaysia’s March industrial production up 2.4%, lower than forecast
No surprise as Malaysia’s central bank holds key interest rate at 3%
Vietnam’s banks face borrowing cost rise as deposits dip
Malaysia’s stock market capitalisation hits record high of RM2 trillion
Asean can enhance clean-energy trade, align climate reporting standards: Grace Fu
Made-in-Indonesia rule threatens Jokowi’s move up value chain