Malaysia Plans Southeast Asia's Most Extensive Integrated Circuit Design Park

Malaysia aims to turn Kuala Lumpur into a regional digital hub and be among the top 20 countries in the global startup ecosystem index by 2030.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the proposed integrated circuit design park was part of Malaysia's efforts to move beyond backend chip assembly and testing into high-value front-end design work. Malaysia plans to build Southeast Asia's most extensive integrated circuit design park and will offer incentives, including tax breaks, subsidies and visa exemption fees to attract global tech companies and investors, the government said on Monday. Malaysia aims to turn Kuala Lumpur into a regional digital hub to be among the top 20 countries in the global startup ecosystem index by 2030.

PM Anwar Ibrahim said the proposed integrated circuit design park was part of Malaysia's efforts to move beyond backend chip assembly and testing into high-value front-end design work. The country is a prominent player in the semiconductor industry, accounting for about 13 per cent of global testing and packaging. Anwar said that the park, backed by Malaysia Central Selangor state, will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with international companies such as British chipmaker Arm Holdings without providing further details. Malaysia sovereign wealth Khazanah Nasional will also launch a fund to invest in innovative growth Malaysian companies with an initial allocation of 1 billion ringgit, Anwar told the KL20Summit event aimed at launching new policies to support Malaysian startups. Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the government would provide incentives, including subsidies, office space exemptions on employment passes, relocation services and lower corporate tax rates for foreign venture capital firms, tech entrepreneurs and unicorn startups reaching a USD 1 billion valuation looking to invest in Malaysia.

"We want to attract global unicorns to enter Malaysia so that highly skilled and highly valued jobs are created, as well as develop a pipeline of future entrepreneurs and senior leaders in tech," Rafizi said. (USD 1=4.7820 ringgit)

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