For Taiwan, Malaysia could ease the global semiconductor shortage

For Taiwan, Malaysia could ease the global semiconductor shortage. Source: Flickr/Frahman Photography

Malaysia attracts $21.4bn of investments in ’emerging technologies’

By | 27 September, 2016

MALAYSIA has attracted RM88.4 billion in investments in the first half of 2016 the country’s Investment Development Authority (MIDA) announced on Friday. The investments are set to generate over 76,000 jobs, but overall the investment amount is down 29.8 percent against the RM125.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.

The large 2015 investment figure was mostly due to two big petrochemical projects approved in the manufacturing sector – the Pengerang project in Johor and LNG9 project in Sarawak.

SEE ALSO: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia to make tech their third-most invested sector, says report

In the first half of 2016 RM28.2 billion of investment came from direct foreign investment.

“Our approved foreign investments for the first half have already reached 78.2 per cent of the total foreign investments approved for the whole of last year,” International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said in a statement.

“With our strong fundamentals, Malaysia remains on a steady economic growth path. We continue to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) in quality projects in new growth areas and emerging technologies.”

The leading sources of foreign investments during this time were the UK (RM2.07 billion), China (RM1.58 billion), Korea (RM1.52 billion), Singapore (RM1.46 billion) and Japan (RM910 million).

SEE ALSO: Malaysian pension fund invests in Uber – why not local player Grab?

Overall the manufacturing sector received investments of RM19.6 billion and RM67.5 billion from the services sector – the largest share of total investments.

The top five investment recipients in the manufacturing sector were Johor, Selangor, Penang, Perak and Sarawak. The primary sector received the remaining approved investments of RM1.3 billion.

MIDA said it has 264 projects in the pipeline – mainly in chemical and chemical products, machinery and metal, transportation technology, global establishments and hospitality – with investments worth RM30.8 billion for the manufacturing and services sectors.



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Heidi Vella is a freelance energy and technology journalist based in London. Her interests include smart cities, clean energy, emerging markets and technology innovation. Prior to working freelance, Heidi spent four years’ covering all things technology and energy-related for London-based Progressive Digital Media.

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