Malaysian chip designers eye new business through Japanese foundry Rapidus

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysian chip designers are gaining access to potential customers seeking to manufacture advanced chips at Japan’s Rapidus, opening opportunities to generate design and an intellectual property (IP) business as Malaysia seeks to move up the semiconductor value chain.

Four Malaysias firms have joined the Japanese foundry’s design ecosystem ahead of its planned manufacturing launch in 2027. These firms – SkyeChip, Oppstar Technology, Infinecs Systems and GreatAsic Technology – are among 17 inaugural Design Solution Associates under the Rapidus Collaborative Open Rapid Ecosystem (Rapidus Core).

Singapore’s Quest Global Services also joined the alliance, giving the inaugural group representation from both Malaysia and Singapore in South-east Asia.

Announced on Monday (Oct 5), the framework connects prospective customers with companies providing the expertise and resources needed to develop chips for Rapidus’ 2-nanometre (nm) manufacturing platform.

While the partnership allows Malaysian companies to provide semiconductor IP and chip design services for Rapidus-bound projects, this involvement has not yet yielded firm orders or commercial revenue.

Their participation is consistent with Malaysia’s National Semiconductor Strategy, which seeks to move the industry up the value chain into activities such as chip design, IP development and advanced packaging.

Skyechip, Oppstar and GreatAsic were also approved in May for access to Arm’s computing technology and IP under Malaysia’s strategic partnership with the British chip technology company. This aims to accelerate the development of locally designed semiconductor products.

Addressing challenges of rapid data movement

Bursa Malaysia-listed SkyeChip and Oppstar outlined different contributions to the ecosystem, reflecting the range of work needed to take an advanced chip from concept to manufacturing.

Responding to queries from The Business Times, SkyeChip said it would provide memory interface IP, network-on-chip technology and die-to-die interfaces, alongside integrated circuit (IC) design expertise for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

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These reusable building blocks help move data within and between chips, and between processors and memory. SkyeChip said data movement has become a major constraint on system performance as AI workloads grow, and its IP is designed to address that challenge.

“Being appointed to Rapidus Core recognises the depth of SkyeChip’s silicon IP for AI and HPC, and our engineering capability in leading-edge chip design,” said CEO Fong Swee Kiang.

The company described its participation as a strategic collaboration that places it within Japan’s wider semiconductor ecosystem. It declined to comment on potential or ongoing customer engagements and did not disclose committed revenue from the arrangement.

SkyeChip said membership identifies design vendors that prospective customers can engage if they intend to have their chips manufactured by Rapidus, signalling an established working relationship with the foundry.

It also reiterated plans disclosed in its prospectus to establish an office in Japan, without specifying whether engineers would be deployed there for the collaboration.

Oppstar targets advanced IC design

Meanwhile, Oppstar said it would contribute advanced-node IC design expertise, physical layout capabilities and custom IP development to help customers connect their product requirements with Rapidus’ manufacturing platform.

It plans to work alongside other ecosystem participants to support customers from initial specifications through tape-out and mass production. Tape-out refers to the submission of a completed chip design for fabrication.

“The semiconductor industry relies heavily on a collaborative horizontal ecosystem,” said Oppstar co-CEO Ng Meng Thai.

He said combining Oppstar’s design capabilities with Rapidus’ manufacturing process and other Core participants could lower barriers for customers, streamline development and accelerate the launch of next-generation semiconductor devices.

Oppstar said the collaboration supports its international expansion, including its existing presence in Japan, but the company did not disclose contract values, committed customer projects or expected revenue.

Potential income streams

Phillip Capital head of Malaysia research JY Tan viewed the development positively for SkyeChip’s positioning and medium-term growth prospects.

Early involvement in Rapidus’ 2nm ecosystem could create opportunities for IP licensing and application-specific IC design as the Japanese foundry’s advanced-node customer pipeline develops, he said.

The collaboration also supports management’s strategy to expand into Japan and broaden its foundry footprint, Tan added.

Yong Kai Ping, CEO of Selangor Information and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec), said foundry ecosystems can help design houses reach potential customers through introductions by the manufacturer, alongside their own business development efforts.

However, “being a recognised ecosystem partner does not mean a guaranteed order book”, he said, adding that design houses must still demonstrate their capabilities, track record, technical expertise, pricing and ability to deliver.

“The foundry creates the platform, ecosystem and opportunities for collaboration, while the design house must ultimately convert those opportunities into commercial engagements,” he added.

Yong said Sidec helps Malaysian design firms turn ecosystem access into business through talent and technology development, customer introductions and international market connections.

Tackling a talent shortage

On Monday, Rapidus said the ecosystem framework aims to address the global advanced semiconductor talent shortage by connecting customers with design partners early in development.

The Japanese foundry emphasised that chip development requires comprehensive support beyond fabrication, including electronic design automation tools, IP, research access and specialised design expertise.

Through Core’s initial initiative, Design Solution Associates, partners will contribute engineering resources to bridge customers and Rapidus from initial design through manufacturing.

Inaugural participants include Synopsys, Cadence, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Wipro.

Rapidus plans to expand the framework into automation, IP and packaging categories to build a broader global network supporting advanced semiconductor production.