“Malaysia needs to move from being just a consumer, to a technology leader and producer of world-class ‘Made by Malaysia’ products and services,” Anwar said in parliament.
The concept was first floated in January by then-economy minister Rafizi Ramli, in the context of developing local semiconductor chips and graphics processing units. It signals a shift from Malaysia’s traditional role as a chip assembler towards designing and producing high-value, locally developed products as it aims to become a key player across the full spectrum of the global semiconductor sector.
Anwar said that while Malaysia was proud of its position as the world’s sixth-largest exporter of semiconductors, amounting to over 600 billion ringgit (US$141 billion) in 2024, it must now move further up the value chain.
