PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia aims for locally manufactured chips developed in collaboration with Arm Ltd to enter the production stage and be used in the country’s semiconductor supply chain by 2030, said Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir.
He said companies that receive technology access through the collaboration token require about three years to develop chip designs before producing their first products, with four companies now at the design and intellectual property (IP) evaluation stage.
Akmal Nasrullah said the target takes into account the time needed for design development and production, as well as the need to ensure that the chips produced can be marketed and accepted by customers identified by the companies.
The design takes about three years because the first one (token) was obtained at the end of last year, 2025, and the design would be completed in 2028, and then by the time they start to manufacture the chip, definitely we are looking at that period of time.
"But definitely, because at the moment we have got listed the four companies to start the design stage and look at the IP.
"So hopefully, I mean, I know I put it in terms of having that design itself by 2028, but along the way, you need to allow for them to produce and to ensure it will be marketable and received by the clients that they have identified earlier,” he told the media after attending the Economy Ministry’s monthly assembly and the presentation of offer letters to Arm Ltd here, today.
Earlier, Akmal Nasrullah presented offer letters to two local companies -- Oppstar Technology Sdn Bhd and Alphaswift Industries Sdn Bhd.
Both companies received access to Arm Compute Subsystem (CSS) technology and the Arm Flexible Access (AFA) programme to accelerate the development of integrated circuit designs, research and development, and semiconductor technology in Malaysia.
Elaborating further, he said the four companies that have received tokens are currently at the early design stage and are evaluating the IP access provided. Each company receives access to different technologies according to the specifications and specialisation of its respective chips.
He said two more companies received token offer letters today under Malaysia’s collaboration framework with Arm, bringing the total number of tokens awarded so far to eight.
Of that total, he said four tokens were for CSS and the other four for AFA. CSS enables companies to develop their own chips or IP, with access to different technologies, including chips based on automation, such as those used in vehicles, as well as chips for servers.
Meanwhile, Akmal Nasrullah said the economic value of each token varies depending on the technology provided, target market, supply chain and potential customers identified by the companies.
According to him, the government is also placing emphasis on ensuring that chip manufacturing activities take place in Malaysia, in addition to setting requirements for the recruitment of highly skilled local engineers.
"So, the value that we are trying to create will be multiplied, not only through the company’s ability to produce its own chips, but also through these related linkages,” he said, adding that for the next round of token allocations, several companies are still being evaluated by a technical committee at the government level and by Arm Ltd.
The Minister also said that the government continues to encourage interested companies to participate in the collaboration, particularly for AFA tokens, which give companies an opportunity to gain exposure to Arm technology without having to immediately produce chips within a short period.
"With CSS, they are responsible for directly designing the chips they intend to produce, whereas AFA is intended to give them exposure to this technology,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the collaboration with Arm also includes training for 10,000 participants to develop talent in fields related to semiconductor and electronic technology.
He said the training provides participants with early exposure to Arm systems, with some of the companies that have access to the technology expected to be among those able to absorb the talent into the industry.
He said the programme also aims to develop a highly skilled workforce, including engineers who can be involved in chip design, research and production.
He said the Arm training programme offers a 200-hour online course, in addition to integrated training conducted with the Advanced Semiconductor Academy of Malaysia under the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (SIDEC).
Akmal Nasrullah said some participants who previously completed the integrated programme had secured starting salaries of around RM5,000 to RM5,100.
"After gaining two to three years of experience, their salaries can increase to RM8,000 or RM9,000. So, the demand is there, and the opportunities are there as well,” he said. - Bernama
