KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is experiencing a notable increase in funds flowing into the country, spurred by trade tensions among the world's leading economic powers, according to Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
This stream of investments has been evident not only recently but over the preceding years, he said.
Tengku Zafrul emphasised the need to attract more funds into the country, highlighting the importance of recognising Malaysia's strengths, particularly in the digital and green economy sectors.
He also highlighted Malaysia's appeal to overseas investors in the semiconductor industry.
Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia has been a key player in semiconductors for the past five decades.
"We want to move up that value chain from backend to frontend, but at the same time, we also want more Malaysian companies and Malaysian investors to participate in the development of this ecosystem," he said at the Concorde Club meeting with the media at Wisma Bernama here today.
He said Malaysia holds a notable market share globally and urged more Malaysian companies to invest in this sector.
Malaysia's continued success in attracting investments within the semiconductor sector appears promising for the upcoming years.
Key players from the United States, including Intel, NVIDIA, Texas Instruments, Applied Materials, Lam Research, Micron, and Hewlett Packard, have pledged substantial investments in Malaysia, amounting to billions of ringgits, primarily focusing on expanding or establishing their presence in the chip industry.
This trend extends beyond U.S. companies, with notable firms such as Infineon (Germany), Bosch (Germany), AT&S (Austria), Ericsson (Sweden), and Simmtech (South Korea) also rushing to invest in Malaysia.
In 2023, Malaysia emerged as the leading exporter of semiconductors to the United States.
Tengku Zafrul said that Malaysia is also actively promoting renewable energy and observing noteworthy investments in this sector.
He said that while Malaysian companies are actively engaged in renewable energy currently, there is also room for growth in data centres.
Malaysia's digital economy, which contributed 23.2 per cent to the gross domestic product in 2021, is projected to increase to 25.5 per cent by 2025.
Investments in digital projects are expected to create 36,553 job opportunities for Malaysians.
Among the approved digital investments are those in data centres, cloud computing, data hosting, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence.