THE impending closure of Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc’s plant in Penang is expected to be cushioned by interest from potential investors and expansion plans by existing ones.
Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) chief executive Datuk Redza Rafiq said the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) is seeing encouraging interest from new investors.
“Some existing companies have approached us about their reinvestment plans. Since some of these deals are under negotiation, NCIA is not at liberty to disclose the details until later,” he told Business Times.
Redza said new investments and reinvestments would come from the traditional markets of the United States, Europe and Asia, and the flow of investments is likely to remain in the manufacturing and tourism sectors.
He said while NCIA continues to target multinational corporations (MNCs), it noted that global mid-sized companies are increasingly leveraging on globalisation to gain access to new markets.
“However, such firms have less in-house resources compared with MNCs.”
On Fairchild Semiconductor’s global restructing plans, Redza said: “NCIA will be contacting Fairchild’s local management and will assist local vendors affected by the closure by helping them explore new business opportunities in NCER.
“We will continue to work closely with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) and state agencies.”
He said the Federal Government’s investment of RM17.6 billion in big-ticket infrastructure items for northern states has changed the dynamics of the region.
“Previously, Penang had taken the lead in attracting foreign direct investments. Things began to change in 2012.”
Redza said the Taiping-Kamunting area and Kedah were significant contributors of investment inflows in the northern corridor.
Mida figures show that from January to May this year, Kedah saw the approval of RM4.3 billion investment projects while Penang saw RM3.132 billion approvals. Last year, Penang recorded RM3.91 billion in approved projects while Kedah recorded RM2.53 billion.