KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s semiconductor industry needs talent development, strategic planning and investments in advanced technologies to remain competitive, said Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA) president Datuk Wong Siew Hai.
He said MSIA is working on programmes on a longer term to encourage students to pursue science and engineering.
“In the semiconductor industry, Malaysia faces opportunities and challenges. In order to remain competitive, talent development, strategic planning and investments in advanced technologies are crucial. There are other programmes that we work on longer term which is trying to encourage students to pursue science and engineering,” he told a press conference at the Nomura Breakfast Conference Series 2024 today.
Nomura Asset Management Malaysia managing director and country head Leslie Yap said as Malaysia is moving towards being in a global group of semiconductor supplier chains, there has been a lot of attention by investors.
He stated that Malaysia will see strong long-term growth potential for the semiconductor industry, led by artificial intelligence, personal computing, smartphones, memory, data centres, Internet of Things, electric vehicles and semiconductor capital equipment.
“We identify quality companies to invest in by narrowing down on those that have intellectual property that competitors cannot match,” he added.
In the meantime, Nomura Asset UK senior equity analyst Takeshi Kawamoto highlighted the importance of investing in companies with leading-edge technology and intellectual property. “This industry has potential to be a high growth but very cyclical industry. As this is a growing industry, the peak stock price will continue to be higher every year,” he said.
The Nomura Global Shariah Semiconductor Equity Fund has recorded a one-year return of 79.14%, with assets under management reaching RM 128.74 million as of March this year.
