KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 6): The Selangor state government is exploring developing a second chip design park in Cyberjaya as the newly-opened site in Puchong — also the largest in Southeast Asia — reaches full capacity.
The plan is to develop another integrated circuit design park in Cyberjaya to accommodate more engineers in Selangor, said Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corp (Sidec) chief executive officer Yong Kai Ping.
The IC design park in Puchong, spanning 60,000 sq ft, is now fully occupied with global semiconductor players including MaiStorage, Skyechip, Weeroc, AppAsia ChipsBank and SensoremTek Sdn Bhd.
“We hope [to open the second park] by next year, maybe in the middle of the year,” Yong told The Edge at the opening ceremony of the Puchong park on Tuesday.
He said Sidec has yet to finalise the building for the second IC park in Cyberjaya, which could be similar in size or larger than the Puchong site.
“I'm very confident that with our Puchong IC design park launched and with the rest of the semiconductor ecosystem coming in, Selangor will produce at least 30% to 40% of semiconductor companies,” he added.
Yong said the Puchong park is expected to bring in economic returns of RM500 million to RM1 billion.
Selangor's semiconductor hub not meant to compete with Penang
The Sidec chief also said that the Puchong IC design park is not positioned as a rival to Penang, which is dubbed as the Silicon Valley of Southeast Asia.
Instead, it aims to complement the existing semiconductor ecosystem by providing a platform for companies that focus on areas beyond chip manufacturing.
“We are not competing. In fact we are bringing business to each other. In my opinion, it is good business because we are providing clients for each other and strengthening the semiconductor industry in the region,” said Yong.
In 2023, Penang reported RM63.42 billion worth of approved investments for manufacturing projects, followed by Kedah with RM26.83 billion and Selangor with RM19.31 billion, according to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) investment report.