KUALA LUMPUR (April 23): Ferrotec Holdings Corporation, a Japanese advanced materials and component company, will be investing RM1 billion for the construction of its second manufacturing facility in Kulim, Kedah.

The second facility, spanning nearly one million sq ft, will strengthen Ferrotec’s Southeast Asian footprint once it is completed within a year, according to a joint statement with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).

“The success of our first facility has proven the validity of Ferrotec’s strategy of rooting in Malaysia and serving the global market,” said group chief executive officer and president He Xian Han.

Ferrotec supplies ferrofluid and ceramics as well as precision components catering to manufacturers in semiconductors, automotive, biomedical applications, and smartphones.

The second plant — serving markets across Asia, Europe and the Americas — will house over 700 computer numerical control machines and create over 1,000 jobs. Together with the first facility, the company dual-headquartered in Tokyo and Shanghai would have invested RM1.9 billion in Malaysia.

“Kulim Plant 2 is not merely an expansion — it is a statement of confidence in Malaysia’s thriving semiconductor ecosystem,” said Anzhi He, the managing director of Ferrotec Manufacturing Malaysia.

To Mida, Ferrotec’s expansion in Malaysia underscores the country’s position as a destination for high-tech investments in the semiconductor industry, said its chief executive officer Datuk Sikh Shamsul Ibrahim Sikh Abdul Majid.

“This commitment not only reflects investor confidence in our policies, infrastructure and talent, but also reinforces our ambition to become a regional leader in advanced manufacturing,” he added.