KUCHING: Sarawak must move into the front-end of the semiconductor industry by developing its own technology, designs and chips rather than remaining focused mainly on back-end manufacturing.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state’s ambition is to develop semiconductor capabilities that would enable chips designed by Sarawakians to be used globally.
“Technology development in Malaysia has centred on the back-end. What you see in Penang, the chips in Penang, including Intel, is the back-end of the industry.
“Now, we must go to the front-end. Front-end means your own technology, your own design and your own chip,” he said this in his speech when officiating the Sarawak Semiconductor Flagship Talent Development Ecosystem Ceremony at CENTEXS, Santubong here today (Sept 15).
Abang Johari said Sarawak’s aspiration is not merely to participate in semiconductor manufacturing, but to develop home-grown capabilities in chip design and advanced technology.
“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.
“And that is our dream, and I’m sure you can realise that dream,” he said.
He said Sarawak’s semiconductor ambitions could also extend into highly advanced applications, including space technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Abang Johari said the development of AI reflected how ideas conceived decades ago could eventually become reality through advances in data and energy technologies.
Citing British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing’s vision in the 1950s of machines functioning like humans, he said the concept had since evolved into modern AI applications, including robots capable of performing human-like functions.
He said Sarawak is also developing technology for sophisticated machines intended for space applications.
He said a chip designed elsewhere could be fabricated in Sarawak under the state’s low-carbon industrial cluster, with the technology expected to contribute to energy generation for spacecraft.
Abang Johari said such developments would create significant demand for skilled engineers, with one project alone requiring about 500 engineers.
“People like you, we have already trained 40 to 50, but they need 500,” he said.
He added that similar opportunities would emerge from the next generation of semiconductor technologies being developed by companies such as Western Digital and X-FAB.
Abang Johari said Sarawak’s growing semiconductor ecosystem would provide significant career opportunities for the state’s talent.
“So, to my sons and daughters, young engineers, opportunities are there. Opportunities are there, and your future is bright,” he said.
