[This is a sponsored article with MDEC, but the editorial team had full control over the content. ]
If you still think Malaysia’s role in the global semiconductor industry begins and ends with chip assembly and testing, it’s time to get up to speed.
Since the National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) was launched in May 2024, Malaysia has been working to own more of the blueprint, building capabilities in chip design, advanced packaging, and engineering to move up the semiconductor value chain. Complementing these efforts, the Malaysia Digital (MD) national strategic initiative supports the growth of high-value digital industries while strengthening Malaysia’s competitiveness in the global digital economy.
The government has committed RM25 billion in fiscal support under the NSS. Within a year of its launch, the initiative has already attracted over RM63 billion in semiconductor investments. Realising these ambitions will require not only investments, but also a strong ecosystem of innovative Malaysian technology companies capable of competing globally.
The goal? To build at least 10 Malaysian companies that generate up to RM10 billion in revenue from design and advanced packaging, and 100 more inching towards that RM1 billion mark.
But strategy means nothing without companies on the ground actually executing it, and Malaysia already has a growing list of contenders doing exactly that. Here are eight companies demonstrating what this ascent looks like in practice.
The Pioneers: Pushing into high-value territory
1. Inari Amertron
This firm is probably the name most investors associate with Malaysian semiconductors, and for good reason. The company has built a strong reputation for packaging the radio frequency chips that power your 5G smartphones.
That packaging business has made Inari hugely profitable; profitable enough that it has RM2.14 billion cash reserve that it’s pouring into something more ambitious: advanced chip packaging for AI hardware.
As AI servers and data centres demand increasingly powerful and complex chips, the packaging process becomes more difficult. Multiple chips often need to be stacked or connected with extreme precision to work as one unit.
By mastering this skill, Inari Amertron is establishing itself among the ranks of companies defining the next generation of AI hardware.
2. ViTrox Corporation
Picture a chip moving down a production line.
It might have a hairline crack or a misaligned connection that nulls it as a defective product, and as chips get smaller and more complex, the cost of a single manufacturing error skyrockets. But these defects are too small for the human eye to catch, so what could manufacturers rely on?
This is what Malaysia Digital (MD) status company ViTrox comes in, with its machines that scan chips using cameras and X-rays to spot such critical issues.
As the world races to build AI servers and next-generation processors, ViTrox is helping ensure those chips meet the standards required to power them, supporting the technological foundations needed for Malaysia’s growing AI ecosystem.
3. SkyeChip
MD status company SkyeChip is arguably one of the strongest proof points for what the NSS is trying to build: a homegrown chip designer.
Most Malaysian semiconductor companies build or package chips designed by someone else, but SkyeChip does the opposite. It designs the blueprint of a chip from scratch, the same way an architect designs a building before construction begins, then licenses or sells that design.
The Penang-based company recently unveiled the MARS1000, Malaysia’s first locally designed edge AI processor built using advanced 7nm process technology.
With over 300 engineers, more than 100 patents filed, and a successful Bursa Main Market listing that raised RM352 million, SkyeChip now sits at the very start of the semiconductor value chain.
The Diversifiers: Taking semiconductor skills into new industries
4. Greatech Technology
The same automation systems that run chip factories don’t stay there.
For Greatech Technology, its engineering behind robotic systems, precision automation, and smart vision technology was eventually extended into a new frontier: EV battery production.
The company’s systems, designed to handle microscopic tolerances on chip components, found a natural fit in EV battery pack assembly, where even minor misalignments can affect performance and safety.
From there, the footprint widened. Today, Greatech Technology’s automation systems sit across EVs, solar energy, medical devices, and semiconductors alike.
5. Pentamaster Corporation
Similar to ViTrox, Pentamaster Corporation makes automated testing equipment that checks whether a finished product actually works the way it’s supposed to. The difference is that Pentamaster focuses more on functional testing than defect-spotting.
But nowadays the company is moving away from the sluggish automotive segment towards AI and medical manufacturing.
As of earlier this year, Pentamaster’s semiconductor-linked and EV-related automation business has reportedly been gaining momentum, driven by rising demand for power electronics and testing systems used in next-generation vehicles.
With a third production plant under development and design centres planned in California and Munich, the company is steadily expanding its global footprint.
6. D&O Green Technologies
Headquartered in Melaka, D&O Green Technologies produces the high-performance LED packages and chips that power both the exterior and interior lighting systems inside your car. This includes headlamps, brake lights, as well as LEDs behind instrument clusters, climate controls, and infotainment screens.
As more and more vehicles go electric, though, automotive lighting systems are getting more sophisticated and serve as expressive designs.
This shift has helped position D&O within a growing global automotive LED market, where it ranks among the leading players supplying international OEMs. In fact, as of 2022, the company commanded a 7% market share—the fourth-largest in the world.
Its automotive LED components are distributed across key global markets, including China, Japan, Europe, and North America.
The Enablers: Doing the less visible but essential work
7. Aurelius Technologies
Sitting in a space that is easy to overlook but difficult to replace, Aurelius Technologies creates the internal electronics that power larger industrial systems.
The company builds electronic manufacturing services (EMS) products such as printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), sub-assemblies, and full box-build systems. These form the internal control and processing units inside industrial equipment, communications hardware, and semiconductor-adjacent applications.
Beyond that, Aurelius Technologies has expanded its capabilities into multicomponent semiconductor modules and IoT-linked electronics.
8. QES Group
Based in Shah Alam, MD status company QES Group operates at a part of the semiconductor ecosystem that rarely gets attention, but quietly determines how fast factories can scale.
The company acts as the access layer between global equipment makers and the factories that need them—sourcing, distributing, and integrating inspection and test equipment for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing lines.
QES also installs, calibrates, and maintains these systems, ensuring that the equipment continues to function long after it enters the factory floor.
In manufacturing environments where downtime can halt entire production lines, keeping these systems running becomes just as critical as installing them in the first place.
Sitting one step further upstream are two precision machining specialists: Coraza Integrated Technology and UWC Berhad. They’re both Penang-based and publicly listed, supplying the precision-machined metal components, enclosures, and structural parts that equipment makers like Vitrox and Pentamaster rely on to build their machines.
What’s so significant about these eight companies?
More than just individual success stories, what’s really interesting is how these Malaysian companies connect to one another.
“The Pioneers” set the standards that other semiconductor companies should strive to meet. Next, “The Diversifiers” absorb those standards, sharpen their capabilities, and carry Malaysian manufacturing expertise into new industries. Lastly, “The Enablers” make sure those capabilities spread to smaller companies that can’t build them alone.
This is the NSS’s real bet: A whole ecosystem of companies where each pulls the next one up, thereby collectively shifting Malaysia’s standing in the global technology supply chain.
The investment momentum suggests the opportunity is real, while the companies profiled here demonstrate that Malaysia has the capability to capture greater value across the semiconductor ecosystem.
As the National Semiconductor Strategy continues to gain momentum, companies like these will play an important role in supporting the aspirations of Malaysia Digital 2030 (MD2030), while strengthening the technological foundations needed to realise Malaysia’s vision of becoming an AI Nation by 2030.
The chips, in more ways than one, are on the table.
- Learn more about MDEC and the MD Status here.
