Malaysia continues to be an attractive destination for European companies, despite border closures and Covid-19 still at large, expansion plans into this region has not subsided with many western corporation looking to Southeast Asia as their growth strategy.
Our latest success story will have to be AT&S, an Austria-headquartered global manufacturing leader of high-end printed circuit boards (PCB) and integrated circuit (IC) substrates, choosing Malaysia as their first production plant in this region.
The company will be building its new facility in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah, to produce high-end PCBs and IC substrates involving a proposed total investment of RM8.5 billion (€1.7 billion) that will help create 5,000 high-tech and high impact jobs. According to a statement released by MITI, the construction of the facility is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2021 with commercial operations targeted to come on stream in 2024. Apparently, this project is among the investments attracted by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) under the National Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan’s (PENJANA)investment scheme, launched mid last year.
AT&S’ high end PCB and IC substrates are used in mobile devices, industrial electronics, automotive applications as well as medical and health technology. As an international enterprise, the company has production facilities in Austria, India, China and South Korea.
During these challenging period faced by many nations across the globe and even here in the Asia Pacific rim, attracting any investment is a major coup. Malaysia is competing with the likes of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam who all have unique advantage and offer lucrative benefits to invest in their countries, however for AT&S to chose Malaysia is surely a sweet win for agencies involved. In explaining the choice for their strategic decision, AT&S CEO Mr. Andreas Gerstenmayer said, “After very intensive location scouting globally, Malaysia has emerged as the country in which we want to push ahead with our ‘More than AT&S’ strategy,” adding that, “AT&S brings the latest generation of high-end technologies to the country and builds up a whole new technology sector.
Beside manufacturing of high-tech products, a significant amount of R&D activities will be executed at this new location which can benefit Malaysia to strengthen its position as a high-tech manufacturing hub in Asia.
Minister of International Trade and Industries, Dato Seri Azmin Ali commented that coupled with the strong showing of investment approvals for the first quarter (Q1) of this year, totalling RM80.6 billion in the manufacturing, services and primary sectors, AT&S’ investment bodes well for Malaysia’s recovery efforts from the economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
