Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan. - NORAFIFI EHSAN / The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s next strategy for the electrical and electronic (E&E) and semiconductor industry is to scale up its value chain amid global trade challenges, said Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan.
He said the government’s role is to provide capital and support along the way for the industry, in terms of strengthening the country's infrastructure to support businesses.
"What we are trying to do is strengthen the ecosystem that exists, so that the more players we have and the more work that is built around supplying to the ecosystem.
"So Malaysia’s next push now is that we want to go up the value chain a bit more, which includes advanced packaging and chip design,” he said during a panel session at the Fortune Innovation Forum today.
According to Amir Hamzah, Malaysia stands as a key player in the global supply chain, striking a balance between Western and Eastern markets by providing intermediate goods that both sides need to support the growth of their industries.
"Our proposition to both is to say that we are key to your global supply chain (and) we want to continue to do that because we are reliable partners.
"What we are doing is to stay in the middle but grow a little bit more, (and) as we do more and strengthen the value chain, the economy is able to sustain going forward,” he added.
To that end, Amir Hamzah emphasised that Malaysia’s economic strength is based on its deep diversification and well-integrated export market, as seen by its 5.2 per cent growth in the third quarter of 2025.
"The Malaysian economy has a very deep diversification at its base; no export market is greater than 13 per cent, so it is quite a range of markets, and the base of the economy is also quite well integrated.
"That has helped us to be able to address the challenges that we see today in an ever-changing world,” he said. - Bernama
