3REN to ride on demand for technology

3REN chief executive officer Koh Dim Kuan –KAMARUL ARIFFIN/TheStar

PETALING JAYA: Automation solutions and engineering services provider 3REN Bhd is confident of continuous growth post-listing on the back of a positive outlook for the semiconductor and tech industry.

3REN chief executive officer Koh Dim Kuan told StarBiz that the semiconductor industry will remain relevant and strong.

“This is especially with technologies that are artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, machine learning, as well as industrial revolution 4.0 – which are still moving along. So I think the industry will continue to grow for the next five to 10 years, and 3REN will be leveraging that,” he said.

Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) Research said sector sales would be increasingly driven by emerging sectors such as AI, high-performing computing, data centres and electric vehicles (EV).

Koh said 3REN would be able to tap into the vast opportunities, offering solutions and services to cater to the ever-evolving market trends.

“In terms of our business positioning, I believe we are at the heart of our technology mega trend, where we are serving about 500 fortune companies involved in chip design development.

“And now with the increased outsourcing and relocation of manufacturing activities to South-East Asia, I believe 3REN is sitting at the front row with a prime view of all these opportunities.”

Koh believes that 3REN has its distinct features as compared to its peers. “We often get asked – who is our closest competitor? And honestly, in my opinion there is none,” he said. He explained that 3REN’s large range of solutions and service offerings catering to different industries are what put the group in a unique position.

3REN is noted to cater to not only the semiconductor and electrical and electronic products industry, but also automotive, medical and telecommunications.

He stated that the group is divided into individual business units – such as a product engineering team to manage chip development, manufacturing processes team and digital solutions team for software design capabilities, among others, which Koh believes “gives us a good mixture in terms of our business model”.

“Not to forget, we actually delved into the Internet of things (IoT) even before it was coined. And from that move, it allowed us to become a trusted industry partner as well as our collaboration with customers,” he claimed.

Koh highlighted its long-term partnership with multinational companies (MNCs) coupled with securing new customers have been equally important in 3REN boosting its earnings.

For example, the Intel group of companies and KellyOCG are among long-term customers, contributing more than 40% and 15% to 3REN’s revenue for the past five financial years.

In fact, Intel was noted to have been collaborating with 3REN for the past 14 years and in financial year 2024, contributed to 69.58% of group revenue.

“But at the same time, we are trying to address the issue of dependency – hence, we have been talking to various other competitors and MNCs as well,” he said.

3REN aims to raise RM30.8mil through an initial public offering (IPO) exercise, slated for Nov 6, 2024 on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia.

The IPO exercise consists of the issuance of 110 million ordinary shares at a price of 28 sen per share, giving it a market capitalisation of RM182mil. Koh said the group targets to establish its Singapore arm in the first half of 2025.