KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian semiconductor designer SkyeChip Bhd. is "close" to an initial public offering after posting consecutive years of revenue and profit growth, said Chief Executive Officer Fong Swee Kiang.
The company, founded in 2019, has seen "30% revenue growth every year, and a 30% net profit margin," Fong said in an interview on the sidelines of a Kuala Lumpur investment conference.
"We are on track" for profitability, he said.
The company is targeting a price that would value it at more than RM1bil, Bloomberg News reported in March.
Fong, a former Silicon Valley executive who co-founded SkyeChip to tap into the explosion in artificial intelligence, said the focus of the Gobi Partners-backed firm is to create specialised chips to complement those of companies such as Nvidia Corp.
An IPO was "always the plan from Day One," Fong said, without providing further details of the company's planned share sale.
The CEO does not think potential US tariffs on Malaysian products will affect his business much as long as the duties are comparatively low with those of other countries.
After the interview, the company issued a statement to clarify that the actual impact of any US tariffs on the firm cannot be assessed at this stage, as it will in part depend on the final rates imposed and how they compare with the levies applied to other countries.
SkyeChip also clarified that it is looking to win more US customers for its silicon products. In the interview, the CEO said that SkyeChip's exposure to the US market is 100% for its products.
Earlier this year, Arm Holdings Plc agreed to provide chip designs and technology to Malaysia to boost the sophistication of the nation's semiconductor industry.
