PETALING JAYA: The electrical and electronics (E&E) landscape in Malaysia is expected to stabilise in the coming months on the back of demand for smart manufacturing capabilities, automation and technological innovations, said Semi Southeast Asia president Ng Bee Bee.
Ng said the global semiconductor market has shown early signs of resilience to the economic turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of this strength comes from the nature of the industry itself, which is present and plays a role in growing other vital sectors such as healthcare, automotive and retail.
During a webinar hosted by Semi Southeast Asia, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) CEO Datuk Azman Mahmud, United Overseas Bank investment strategist Francis Tan and Soitec CEO Paul Boudre shared that the Malaysian E&E landscape will remain robust in the coming months, supported by the rise in remote working, virtual learning and e-commerce.
Azman said Malaysia remains competitive amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s diversified economic structure and continuous support from the government in balancing public health and the livelihood of the people, underpin the growth momentum of the country’s industrial capacity.
He added that to sustain the country’s competitive advantages, the need to transform the Malaysian economy via digital empowerment is no longer an option. Digitalisation is crucial to future-proof businesses. Towards this goal, Mida has taken a proactive step to embrace an innovative initiative by introducing Malaysia’s Lighthouse Project, a concept of modelling companies that have embraced digital manufacturing and globalisation 4.0 in their business model and their entire supply chain. Malaysia is moving ahead as one of the top global manufacturing nations through the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.
“We are also hard at work in assisting existing companies from various industrial sectors, including the E&E industry to transform and emerge as lighthouses. We look forward to having more E&E companies enhancing their operations in Malaysia, especially those that are well engaged in lighthouse operations in growing their business journey in the country. Companies should tap on Malaysia’s strong fundamentals which includes the E&E infrastructure and business ecosystem developed over the last 50 years,” said Azman in a statement today.
Given this positive outlook for the industry, Semi Southeast Asia will be organising a virtual Semicon Southeast Asia 2020 which will run from July 20-23, 2020 at Semicon West 2020 with industry leaders and subject matter experts discussing the latest trends, developments and innovations at the Southeast Asia Pavilion. The online event will continue from Aug 10-21, 2020, with in-depth technical webinars focusing on trending topics such as sustainable manufacturing and advanced packaging.
Semi has always been Mida’s strategic partner not only in conducting the Semicon Southeast Asia since 2015 but more importantly to build connections that assist companies, particularly in the E&E industry to address challenges and create new markets for sustainable growth.
Beyond a tradeshow, Semicon Southeast Asia connect industry players, industry experts, SMEs, private-and-public partners as well as engineering graduates, and expounds the important need to collaborate in this growing industry.
“Migrating Semicon Southeast Asia 2020 to a virtual platform is part of our commitment to the health and safety of our members, exhibitors, guests and employees. Even during these unprecedented times, connecting industry players, especially SMEs, remains important, as we focus on staying adaptive and creative to ride through the fluid landscape. The sessions planned during the virtual tradeshow, such as the online business matching programme, will expound this priority, to ensure the industry seizes the innovation and growth opportunities vital to its growth,” Ng said.
