KULIM: Malaysia's Electrical and Electronics (E&E) exports are expected to hit RM300 billion by end of this year.
International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said that as of September, the country's E&E exports stand at RM251 billion.
Mustapa said Malaysia ranked seventh among the world's biggest E&E exporters last year with an export value of RM287.7 billion.
"We are expecting the value to surpass the RM300 billion mark this year based on the increasing trend over the past three years.
"In fact, E&E is the only sector which recorded trade surplus for the past three years," he told reporters after opening the new OSRAM Opto Semiconductors (M) Light Emitting Diode (LED) chip plant at Kulim Hi-Tech Park (KHTP).
He said between Jan and Aug this year, E&E exports jumped by 21.4 per cent compared to corresponding period last year at RM220.56 billion.
He added that in 2016, the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) approved 107 E&E related projects with total investment value of RM9.24 billion.
"Of the total, RM1.29 billion were from domestic investments while RM7.94 billion were foreign investments. These investments have created 16,200 jobs in this country.
"The value of approved investment for the E&E sector in the first six months of this year was RM5.8 billion," he said.
Mustapa said that in 2015, OSROM had invested RM3 billion in the country and the German-based company is one of the biggest employers in the northern region with 5,600 local workers to date.
"The total investment value by OSROM in Malaysia until Oct is RM4.2 billion and creating 7,790 new jobs by 2022.
"From the total jobs, 73 per cent is for local talents, over half of them are engineers in Research and Development (R&D) and manufacturing," said Mustapa.
He added that this investment will help the government to strive towards embracing the 4th Industrial Revolution. Miti, he said, is expected to announce the Industry 4.0 framework by the end of this year.