, Columnist
How Malaysia’s Big Bet for Homegrown Chips Can Pay Off
The $250 million deal with Arm is just the beginning.
Malaysia’s big bet on homegrown chips.
Photographer: Hari Anggara/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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Malaysia is making a bold bet to revamp its semiconductor industry.
It plans to use a first-of-its-kind partnership with Arm Holdings Plc to leapfrog beyond assembly, testing and packaging and into the more lucrative front-end semiconductor production. The Softbank Group Corp.-owned company will provide its chip designs and knowledge — as well as training for 10,000 engineers. Malaysia will pay some $250 million as part of the 10-year deal. It hopes to flip this into semiconductor exports worth $270 billion by 2030.