Penang looks beyond chips with a bigger medtech push
The Malaysian state is scaling up its high-margin play in the sector to lock in long-term investment
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[KUALA LUMPUR] While Penang is riding a fresh semiconductor boom fuelled by artificial intelligence, its decades-old medical technology cluster is stepping out of the shadow of the much larger chip sector, as the state seeks to diversify its manufacturing base.
Malaysia’s northern island state is looking to its established medtech ecosystem, home to global manufacturers including B Braun, Abbott, Boston Scientific, Smith & Nephew and Dexcom, to draw more long-term, high-value investments.
To do that, it is tapping many of the same engineering skills, precision-manufacturing capabilities and supplier networks that helped establish it as a semiconductor hub and earn it the moniker “Silicon Valley of the East”, said Loo Lee Lian, CEO of the state’s investment promotion agency InvestPenang.
