A prominent semiconductor firm is set to establish operations in Malaysia soon. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that ARM Holdings plc, based in the United Kingdom, is currently finalizing plans to set up its base in Malaysia, with the formal agreement expected to be signed next week.
The Prime Minister confirmed this development following an online meeting with ARM CEO Rene Haas and SoftBank Group Corp CEO Masayoshi Son. Anwar stated, “Insya-Allah, we will finalize the agreement next week, and it will be signed.”
According to a report from Malay Mail, senior leaders from ARM Holdings and Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), were also part of the discussions. It is anticipated that the agreement will be concluded by the end of March to establish ARM’s presence in Malaysia.
The involvement of ARM’s senior leadership reflects confidence in Malaysia’s policies and its ambition to become a regional hub for semiconductor design, manufacturing, and innovation. This agreement aligns with Malaysia’s National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS), which aims to attract at least RM500 billion in investment. The first phase of the NSS focuses on Domestic Direct Investment (DDI) in integrated circuit (IC) design, advanced packaging, and manufacturing equipment, as well as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in wafer fabs and manufacturing tools. ARM is a semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, England, and is currently 90% owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group. The company is renowned for designing power-efficient chips essential for mobile devices. Although ARM does not manufacture its own chips, it licenses its designs to third-party companies, including Qualcomm, Apple, Nvidia, MediaTek, Broadcom, Samsung, and Huawei.
According to ARM, 70% of the global population uses products based on its designs, and over 300 billion ARM-based chips have been shipped to date. The company also noted that 99% of smartphones operate on ARM-based processors, with ARM technology present in 50% of all chips with processors.
