This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 28, 2026 - October 4, 2026

ACCESS to Arm’s Compute Subsystem (CSS) would lower the technological barrier for Oppstar Bhd (KL:OPPSTAR) to develop an advanced chip.

But an Arm token is not an instant earnings booster, Oppstar’s senior executives acknowledge in an interview with The Edge.

Its chief operating officer Tan Chun Chia estimates that developing a product could require a total investment of between US$60 million (RM244 million) and US$100 million, depending on the product.

In a nutshell, Oppstar’s immediate task is to find a deep-pocketed partner willing to invest in the development of an advanced chip. An Arm token is just one of the many intellectual property (IP) blocks that Oppstar needs to tape out the chip. Acquiring the remaining IPs will require substantial capital.

Furthermore, Oppstar has only three years to tape out the advanced chip, as Arm’s CSS licence has a three-year tenure.

“That’s why we have to really engage with our partners or strategic partners where they already have a market,” Tan says.

Under the government programme, Oppstar will gain access to Arm’s N2 Compute Subsystem, which can serve as the foundation for developing specialised central processing units (CPUs) using a 5nm-class process.

The access is substantial in value. According to Oppstar, Arm’s IP alone would typically cost between US$30 million and US$40 million.

But the CPU is only one component of a complete chip. The real opportunity — and, potentially, the challenge — lies in what Oppstar can build around it, says its co-CEO and founder Ng Meng Thai.

A powerful CPU paired with a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of about 100 trillion operations per second (TOPS), for instance, could form the basis of an AI PC. Other configurations could target applications such as autonomous driving and other edge-AI devices.

“Arm is just giving you the brain, for example; you still need the eye, you need the leg, you need the hand, and everything,” explains Ng, who has more than 30 years’ experience in IC design.

“The IP costs money, especially silicon-proven IP. The cost can be as expensive as the Arm IP itself.”

Oppstar still needs to integrate other components, including memory interfaces, peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) and other third-party IP.

Ng says companies receiving the CSS tokens must meet a list of requirements, including demonstrating that the IP is being put to productive use, creating engineering talent and generating spillover benefits for the local semiconductor ecosystem.

One that raises concern is the clawback provision.

“For companies that take up the token and do nothing, for example, that’s where the clawback kicks in,” Ng says.

Co-CEO Cheah Hun Wah says the provision is intended to ensure that recipients are serious about using the government-supported technology.

Time is another constraint. The CSS licence runs for three years and can be extended by roughly six months, according to Ng. It can be used to tape out only one product rather than multiple products at one time.

That puts pressure on Oppstar to move quickly.

The design cycle itself can take 12 to 18 months, according to Cheah, followed by fabrication, post-silicon development and system-level work.

If the project proceeds in the right direction, Oppstar expects its first CSS-based chip to be taped out in about two years.

In May, Oppstar also secured Arm’s Flexible Access (AFA) Token — Entry Tier with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).

The tools will be used for Oppstar’s ongoing research and development of an AI system-on-chip (AI SoC) designed for low-power edge-AI devices using 12nm technology.

Ng describes AFA as a lower-cost way of accessing Arm IP, with applications that can be broad.

“The latest one is the ninth-generation Arm architecture,” he says. “They take all the eighth-generation-and-below IP and put it into an IP portfolio. Then you need to make some subscriptions before you can access them … and the technology is good enough.”

The CSS programme could have implications beyond Oppstar itself. The three co-founders — Ng, Tan and Cheah — see the government’s move to provide Arm IP as a boon for local chip designers such as Oppstar.

Above all, the company needs customers and market access to justify an investment that could run as high as US$100 million.

The CSS gives Oppstar a starting point for developing an advanced CPU. The bigger test will be whether it can turn that capability into a commercial product and build a business around it.   

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