Malaysia relies heavily on foreign players like Intel to sustain its chip industry. (Photo courtesy of Intel)

Malaysia aims for chip comeback as Intel, Infineon and more pile in

Country aims to regain semiconductor edge as companies seek supply chain stability

CHENG TING-FANG and LAULY LI, Nikkei Asia tech correspondents

September 29, 2023 06:00 JST

KULIM/PENANG, Malaysia -- Ng Kok Tiong has been working in the semiconductor industry for 34 years and in all that time, the Kuala Lumpur native says, he has never seen the kind of activity in Malaysia that he is seeing now.

As evidence, Ng, a senior vice president at the top European chipmaker Infineon, pointed to a new phenomenon: daily traffic jams between Penang Island and Kulim, site of the country's first-ever high-tech industrial park.