Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) Liew Chin Tong (The Edge filepix)

KUALA LUMPUR (June 8): The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) is drafting the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030 to drive industrial development and will present the master plan in September this year, deputy minister Liew Chin Tong said.

Capital issues are important to be resolved through the master plan, through cooperation between the banking industry and other industries, that could help the nation’s manufacturing industry, he said.

“NIMP will help focus on the issue of lack of capital for small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” he told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday (June 8).

He was responding to a supplementary question byTan Kar Hing (PH-Gopeng) on the government’s efforts to help companies increase production capacity and introduce new products to meet new segments, such as electric vehicles and data centres.

“The government hopes that with the NIMP 2030 and other approaches, as well as geopolitical conditions that have a positive impact on the country, Malaysia can jump to frontend chip industry activities, from backend,” Liew said.

He said Malaysia is one of the 10 largest producers of semiconductor and electronic products, accounting for approximately 7% of the world’s semiconductor trade and 24% of the United States semiconductor trade.

“This clearly shows how important Malaysia’s role is in the global semiconductor supply chain,” he said.

Additionally, Liew said the chip war following the geopolitical situation has had a positive effect on Malaysia, as investors shifted their investment to the country and neighbouring countries, from China.

“In fact, the geopolitical situation helps to bring more investments into Malaysia and this has been evident over the last three years, and (Malaysia) will continue to see more investments in the electrical and electronic (E&E) sector,” he added.

For more Parliament stories, click here.