Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, from left, Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, Chief Minister of Kedah, Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Jochen Hanebeck, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, and Rutger Wijburg, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, during the opening ceremony of the company’s new semiconductor complex facility in Kulim, Malaysia, on Thursday, August 8, 2024.
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Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim highlighted his country’s attractiveness as a chip manufacturing hub at the opening ceremony. of Infineon Semiconductor manufacturing facility in Kulim district of Malaysia.
“Politically, we are stable, the policies are clear, I mean the energy transition, the industrial policy, a master plan, and even the semiconductor policy,” he told CNBC’s JP Ong.
“This has helped attract more interest from investors,” Anwar said, adding that Infineon’s participation “tremendously” demonstrates the company’s confidence in the country’s overall semiconductor ecosystem.
When asked whether Malaysia can produce enough talent to feed this growing industry, the prime minister assured that the country’s professionals and students are capable of doing so.
“Our role in government is to facilitate this process, to ensure that sufficient funds are released for that purpose,” Anwar said.
Anwar said last September that the government was looking to attract skilled Malaysians to return and contribute to the countryThe country has ambitions to train and upskill 60,000 Malaysians to become highly skilled semiconductor engineers over the next decade.
