Silterra poised to contribute to 3rd national car project

CEO Firdaus Abdullah said the company, which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, was capable of producing car components as it had in-depth experience in manufacturing semiconductor chips across various industries for more than two decades

KUALA LUMPUR: Homegrown semiconductor company, Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd, has the capability to contribute positively to the development of the local automotive industry especially in the manufacture of the third national car, says chief executive officer Firdaus Abdullah.

He said the company, which was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, was capable of producing car components as it had in-depth experience in manufacturing semiconductor chips across various industries for more than two decades.

“At Silterra, we’re essentially chipmakers.

“We have the necessary technology to fabricate chips that will bring new functionalities to the automotive world and beyond.

“However, we need to work together with other parties such as designers and car assembly makers to create automotive prototypes,” he said in an interview with Bernama.

He added that Malaysia could cater for every step in the automotive value-chain, just as the country had built a name for itself in providing world-class manufacturing ecosystems for the healthcare, computing, consumer and communications sectors.

On its business outlook, Firdaus said that Silterra was targeting to expand its market in the United States (US), South Korea, Taiwan and the bigger part of China.

“Currently, 24% of our revenue is contributed by Europe while 11% is from the US.

“China alone contributes 34% and Taiwan another 31%,” he said.

As of now, Silterra is supplying chips for the makers of Google, Apple and Amazon products, among many others.

“Many Malaysians are not aware that a local company has the technological capability and capacity to produce components for such renowned global brands,” he said.

Despite being criticised back in the day for being unprofitable to the sovereign wealth fund which led to rumours of it being disposed, he said now the company has had an average revenue of RM600mil and profit of RM60mil, for three consecutive years. — Bernama