Malaysia Should Focus On Specific Semiconductor Niche To Stand Out In ASEAN - Industry Player

By Engku Shariful Azni Engku Ab Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 (Bernama) -- Malaysia should choose a specific sector within the semiconductor industry to focus on and strive to become a leader in that niche, setting itself apart from other ASEAN countries, said Basementality Sdn Bhd spot procurement manager Kirill Korbout.

He opined that as Malaysia aspires to lead the semiconductor sector regionally and globally, it must also establish a mechanism to track and adapt to the industry’s dynamic changes.

“If we try to be too broad by exploring sectors like artificial intelligence chips for automotive and general electronic chips, you are not truly specialising in anything, but we are trying to do everything, and that can hurt us.

“So, we should build an agile industry where you have the potential to quickly shift in the way that we can well cater to global demand changes,” he told Bernama after Bernama TV’s The Nation programme titled “Malaysia’s Big Chip Move: Can We Lead in Semiconductors?” here today.

Hence, he said Malaysia needs leadership with strong foresight and confidence in decision-making to commit fully to a clear direction, along with the resilience to see long-term efforts through to results.

Commenting on the barriers the country faces in achieving leadership in the semiconductor space, particularly in talent development, Korbout noted that the lack of skilled manpower and talent remains a key challenge.

He said that although importing talents to Malaysia would serve as a short-term plan, the country should produce its own talents to prevent brain drain.

“But, we have to ask ourselves, is that talent staying in Malaysia and taking up Malaysian jobs? Or are they then leaving for other countries? If we have Malaysians who worked outside Malaysia, how (do we) bring them back?

“So, I think it is a big role for the government to come in and create the ecosystem for small and medium enterprises, big corporations, while importing the labour sector or the people who are going to train the next generation (of talents),” he said.

Basementality is a company focusing on providing adept project management solutions and staff augmentation services, with streamlined processes, tailored team expansions, and expertise-driven support.

-- BERNAMA