Malaysia sees major lift in FDI, regional HQs

January 31, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR - Foreign Direct Investment has driven the strong performance of Malaysia's manufacturing sector for the first nine months of 2021, more than doubling compared with the same period of 2020, and accounting for 88.3% or RM91.7 billion of total approved investments within the sector.

Major projects approved during Q3 included one from AT&S, an Austrian-headquartered global leader of high-end printed circuit boards (PCB) and integrated circuit (IC) substrates,  committing  an investment of RM8.5 billion in Kulim, Kedah for its manufacturing operation and R&D activities.

FDI accounted for nearly 60% of approved investments, valued at RM106.1 billion; while domestic direct investments (DDI) totalled RM71.7 billion. Together, these approved investments are expected to generate 79,899 job opportunities in the country.

Manufacturing Sector Approved investments in the manufacturing sector increased by more than 60% from the same period last year, with a total of 522 manufacturing projects worth RM103.9 billion approved.

Nexperia Malaysia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nexperia BV (The Netherlands) plans to expand its operations in Negeri Sembilan by investing in building, equipment and automation. And Japan-based Taiyo Yuden has announced an investment of RM680 million for the expansion of its multilayer ceramic capacitors production in Kuching, Sarawak to meet growing demand from ASEAN clients.

The first nine months of 2021 also saw the approval of 2,473 services projects with investments of RM57.8 billion. These projects are expected to create 19,731 jobs once implemented.

Malaysia's Industrial Development Authority said companies investing in 83 of these projects proposed to make Malaysia their regional or global operations hub. The projects were expected to create new job opportunities for 3,760 knowledge-based or highly technical skilled workers.

www.mida.gov.my (ATI).