KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): Norway’s Norges Bank has emerged as a substantial shareholder of semiconductor devices manufacturer Unisem (M) Bhd (KL:UNISEM) after raising its stake in the company.

According to Unisem in a bourse filing on Friday, Norges Bank acquired 87.93 million shares on July 22, increasing its stake in the company to 5.13% from 2.75% as of Feb 23.

The Norwegian central bank purchased the shares through Citigroup Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd, which holds the legal title of the shares on paper as the registered holder.

Norges Bank's investment comes amid a strong rally in technology stocks, with the shares gaining more than 100% over the past year. The stock was up 0.4% at RM4.60 as of the time of writing on Friday, valuing the company at RM7.89 billion. 

Other major shareholders of Unisem include Huatian Technology (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd with a 44% stake, chairman and group managing director John Chia Sin Tet with a combined 20.42% direct and indirect interest, and the Employees Provident Fund with a 6.06% stake.

On July 16, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP) also became a substantial shareholder after acquiring a 5% stake. 

Unisem is trading at a price-earnings ratio (PER) of 116.7 times, the highest among its peers, according to AskEdge data. By comparison, Inari Amertron Bhd (KL:INARI) is trading at a PER of 50.1 times. 

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, the company reported a net loss of RM13.36 million as higher production costs pressured profit margins, despite a 9.7% increase in revenue to RM464.7 million. 

In a separate bourse filing, Unisem announced Lee Jee Kheong as its new chief operating officer, effective Aug 1. In this role, Lee will be responsible for all of Unisem’s regional operations, including its Unisem Advanced Technologies Sdn Bhd subsidiary.

Lee holds over 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry, having joined Unisem Ipoh back in 1992 as a manufacturing supervisor.