GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow is leading an eight-day investment and trade mission to the United States (from yesterday until Oct 5) to strengthen ties with American investors and attract new investments to Penang.
Organised by InvestPenang, the state’s investment promotion agency, the mission aims to renew ties and forge relationships with the US headquarters of American investors in Penang, encourage expansion of their existing sites and attract new investments.
The mission will also update American companies on Penang’s latest developments, including the Penang Silicon Design @5km+ initiative and Penang ATE Campus, infrastructure enhancements and policy changes designed to facilitate investments, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office yesterday.
It will target potential investors in industries including semiconductors, particularly integrated circuit (IC) design, advanced packaging and equipment manufacturing, medical devices and global business services (GBS).
During the visit, Chow and InvestPenang delegates will parti-cipate in a series of meetings and site visits with the corporate headquarters of American investors.
The engagements will provide a platform to highlight Penang’s innovation, competitiveness and long-term vision as a preferred investment destination, the statement said.
The latest mission follows Chow’s previous US visit in 2024, when he said a majority of the companies visited were existing investors considering expansion plans.
He led a week-long investment promotion mission to the US West Coast in August 2019, focusing mainly on California and promoting Penang as a location for semiconductor, electrical and electronics, ICT, medical devices, IT and global business services investments.
In August 2024, Chow led a 10-day mission covering San Jose, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego.
The delegation held strategic meetings and site visits with existing and potential investors, including MKS Instruments, Brooks Instrument, Lattice Semiconductor, AMD, Synopsys, Efinix, Agilent, Coherent, SambaNova, Western Digital, Dexcom and Cohu.
In the first half of 2026, the state secured RM17.3 billion in approved manufacturing investments, up 38% from the same period last year.
Of the total, RM11.9 billion, or 69%, involved expansion projects, while foreign direct investment accounted for RM12.8 billion, or 74%.
The investments involved 177 projects expected to create 19,337 jobs, with the state expecting to surpass the RM22.4 billion recorded in 2025.
Penang also remained Malaysia’s leading exporting state in July, accounting for 48.4% of the country’s total exports, according to the latest Department of Statistics Malaysia figures.
Penang’s exports rose by RM40.4 billion from July 2025.
The latest US-linked expansion includes medical technology company Intuitive, which announced in August that it would establish a 316,000 sq ft manufacturing facility at Bandar Cassia Technology Park.
The facility is expected to begin operations in 2028 and create 1,200 highly skilled jobs by 2032.
The company expects total investment to approach US$500 million over the first five years of operations, including about US$200 million for the initial land and building phase.
Another recent US-linked investment is Jabil’s new 417,000 sq ft Intelligent Logistics Hub in Valdor Industrial Park, Sungai Jawi, which opened in July.
The AI-enabled facility is designed to support the company’s back-end operations and growing capacity requirements, using automated storage, robotics, digital-twin technology and other connected systems.
Lumileds also announced this month that it was expanding its manufacturing operations in Penang, adding production lines for automotive lighting products and transferring its thin-film flip-chip process to the region.
The company described its Penang operations as the centre of gravity of its manufacturing network and said the expansion would support its global business growth.
