KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's recent deals in the United States are expected to boost businesses and the economy.

The Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA) saw the deals as a positive development in strengthening the semiconductor supply chain's resilience.

Its president Datuk Seri Wong Siew Hai said that it would help lower costs by making semiconductors and electronics supply chains more resilient in the long term.

Malaysia and the US inked a memorandum-of-cooperation (MOC) on semiconductor supply chain resilience.  

Malaysia also supported the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) with a dozen initial partners that included Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam,

Wong said the 12 countries represented 40 per cent of the world's gross domestic products.

"The industry is experiencing a period of high growth with digital transformation and emerging technologies such as Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, smart factories and autonomous vehicles.

"Semiconductor companies like Intel, Samsung and TSMC and countries like China, the US and those in Europe have announced investments over the past one year, exceeding US$550 billion in fabrication plants to meet the increasing demand for semiconductors," said Wong.

He added that companies in Malaysia were expanding and increasing capacity to address the shortage in semiconductor.

"Malaysia is also attracting new investments to strengthen its supply chain.

"A more resilient and flexible semiconductor supply chain will allow the industry to manage market volatility much better.

"The industry must steer a course towards a future where sustainable growth can be achieved through resilience and an open and connected world," Wong said.

He said this was important as the semiconductor and electronics had the most complex and geographically dispersed value chain in the world.

"The US-Malaysia MOC in semiconductor supply chain resilience and the IPEF are a positive development for the Malaysian semiconductor and the electrical and electronics industry.

"It further consolidates Malaysia's position as one of the critical global semiconductor hubs.

"Malaysia will continue to be an attractive investment location for semiconductor and electrical and electronics companies," Wong assured.

Wong revealed that for last year, Malaysia recorded approved investments of RM148 billion, which was 9.5 times the approved investments in 2020 of RM15.6 billion.

"The trend for investments is expected to continue with the recent mission by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to the US," he said.

MSIA is an industry association which cover companies incorporated in Malaysia who are involved directly or related to the semiconductor industry (electronics and systems) and the semiconductor industry supply chain.

MSIA also involves institutions providing significant related services to the semiconductor industry, such as engineering, finance, legal and societies, associations, chambers and government-linked agencies.