By: Marilyn Ten
KUCHING (Sept 16): Sarawak must move beyond its current focus on the back-end of semiconductor manufacturing and develop its own chip technology, designs and products, said Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said this was crucial to realising Sarawak’s ambition of having chip designs created by local talent and used globally.
“Now, we must go to the front-end. Front-end means your own technology, your own design, and your own chips,” he said in his address at the Sarawak Semiconductor Flagship Talent Development Ecosystem Ceremony at Sarawak Centre of Technical Excellence (Centexs) in Santubong.
Abang Johari said Malaysia’s semiconductor industry had traditionally been centred on back-end activities, but Sarawak now needed to develop capabilities further up the value chain.
He pointed out that the unveiling of a chip designed by students through the SMD IC Design Competition 2025 and fabricated at X-FAB Foundry in Kuching marked an important step towards greater technological ownership by Sarawak.
“It shows that Sarawak’s semiconductor strength can begin when young people are given the opportunity to design, experiment, solve problems, and create.
“This is a significant step for Sarawak towards our longer-term aspiration to develop Sarawak-owned semiconductor technologies and products, strengthen local content, and progressively secure greater ownership across the value chain.
“We want to move beyond being users of technology. We want our people to become integrated circuit (IC) designers, innovators, owners, and, eventually, producers of technology,” he said.
Abang Johari said Sarawak’s semiconductor capabilities would also support the development of strategic sectors including artificial intelligence (AI), advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, power electronics, aerospace, satellite technologies and other high-value sectors shaping the future global economy.
“This is where our semiconductor and aerospace priorities increasingly converge.
“As we strengthen our aerospace ambitions through the Sarawak Aerospace Advisory Council and Sarawak Space Agency and work towards launching Sarawak’s first nano satellite by 2030, the demand for highly skilled semiconductor engineers and researchers will continue to grow,” he said.
Looking ahead, the Premier said Sarawak is currently exploring the development of its own Low Earth Orbit satellite.
“You know I have been talking about this satellite, and we have a target of 2030 to launch our own satellite…that is the cube satellite (CubeSat) owned by the Sarawak government in the low Earth orbit.
“This is a very important strategic move in order for us to get new data from the Earth, including data in Sarawak,” he said.
He said the data relating to Sarawak would be important for the state to formulate its strategies and economic activities for the future.
“This data is normally called sovereign data. And that is data owned by our country for us to develop for the future,” he explained.
Abang Johari said the state’s semiconductor ambitions reflected the need to dream and pursue technological possibilities that could eventually position Sarawak as a creator rather than merely a consumer of technology.
Referring to the development of AI, he said concepts envisioned by British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing decades ago had since become reality through machines capable of performing functions associated with human intelligence.
He said the advancement of AI and robotics demonstrated how ideas that once appeared distant could eventually be realised through technological development.
“In other words, when you want to move forward, you must be able to dream.
“And our dream today is to have our own chip design created by ‘anak Sarawak’, but used by the world,” he said.
Abang Johari said Sarawak was already exploring applications for locally fabricated chips in sophisticated machinery, including technology intended for use in missions to Mars.
“A chip designed elsewhere but fabricated in Sarawak under the our low-carbon industrial cluster could potentially be used in spacecraft technology involving the conversion of light into an energy source.
“Such developments would create demand for highly skilled engineers and technical talent. So to our young engineers, opportunities lies ahead and your future is bright,” he said.
During the ceremony, Abang Johari witnessed the exchange of agreements between SMD Semiconductor and its strategic partners. He also presented certificate of achievement to the trainees for Centexs-SMD Semiconductor Analog IC Design Cohort 3 and prizes to winners of the SMD IC Design Competition 2025.
Also present were Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn, Centexs chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani, and State Financial Secretary and SMD Semiconductor chairman Dato Sri Wan Lizozman Wan Omar.
