PUTRAJAYA: The government has set a 2030 target for the first locally developed chip under Malaysia’s collaboration with Arm Ltd to be produced and brought to market, Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said.
Akmal said companies participating in the collaboration are expected to take about three years to develop their chip designs after gaining access to the relevant Arm technology and intellectual property (IP).
“By the time they get access to the IP, the development will take approximately about three years for them to come up with the chip,” he told reporters after the Economy Ministry’s monthly assembly here today.
With the first companies having received technology access in late 2025, Akmal said the government was looking at around 2028 for the companies to complete the design stage before progressing towards manufacturing and commercialisation.
“I know I put in terms of having that design itself by ’28, but along the way, you need to allow for them to produce and to ensure it will be marketable and received by the clients that they have identified earlier,” he said.
The government is targeting the first chip developed under the Malaysia-Arm collaboration to be produced and brought to market by 2030.
The timeline comes as the government continues to roll out the RM1.1 billion collaboration with the UK-based semiconductor technology company, with eight Arm technology accesses now awarded to five local companies.
Two additional companies, Oppstar Technology Sdn Bhd and Alphaswift Industries Sdn Bhd, received technology access under the collaboration.
Oppstar received access to Arm’s Compute Subsystem (CSS), while Alphaswift received access under the Arm Flexible Access (AFA) programme.
The latest awards bring the total number of technology accesses offered to eight, comprising four CSS and four AFA tokens.
Akmal said the next phase for companies receiving the technology access was to develop their own chip designs and IP.
“The next phase is actually for them to really produce the design and the IP for that particular chip,” he said.
He said four companies were now at the design stage and working with the relevant IP.
“At the moment, we have got four companies to start the design stage and looking at the IP,” he said.
Akmal said the technology and applications involved differed according to the requirements and capabilities of the respective companies, with potential applications including automation and servers.
The economic value generated by each company would also differ depending on factors such as its technology, potential market and identified customers, he said.
Several other companies are currently being evaluated for future technology access, although Akmal declined to disclose the number involved.
The government also remains open to more companies participating in the programme, particularly through the AFA programme, which provides companies with exposure to Arm technology even if they are not yet ready to develop a chip in the near term.
Meanwhile, Akmal said talent development remained a key component of the collaboration, with 1,530 participants having so far undergone the Arm On-Demand Training programme.
The overall target is to train 10,000 people over four years, while the Economy Ministry is targeting at least 5,000 participants by the end of 2027.
Akmal said the government was working with 12 universities and relevant ministries, agencies and industry players to implement the programme in a more structured manner.
The aim is to integrate Arm training into existing academic programmes, internships and final-year projects where relevant, while linking trained participants with companies involved in the semiconductor industry.
“We need to move from chasing talent shortages to building a structured talent pipeline. Talent must be developed before industry demand becomes critical,” he said.
