Malaysia Unveils Six Homegrown Chips Worth RM300 Million in Sales Potential

Malaysia has spent decades packaging and testing chips designed elsewhere. On 16 October, the government showcased six chips designed by local companies, a small but symbolic step towards owning more of the value chain.

According to Malay Mail, the six innovations carry an estimated combined sales potential of RM300 million. Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Nasir was clear that the launch is a starting line, not a finish line.

The six chips

All six came from companies operating in the Malaysia Semiconductor IC Design Park. They cover a wide range of uses:

• SkyeChip MARS1000: an edge AI processor for cameras, robots and factory systems.
• MaiStorage aiDAPTIV+: storage solutions for AI PCs and servers.
• SiliconX: described as the first homegrown FPGA, a reprogrammable chip, in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, for industrial and automotive use.
• Infinecs Maxwell: an automotive-grade power regulator.
• Weeroc Space: a power controller chip for satellites and space systems.
• Alphaswift FC Mini: a flight controller for autonomous drones.

From design to customers

Designing a chip is only the first hurdle. Akmal said the next milestone is to secure customer adoption, meet industry qualification requirements and scale the designs into commercial products. Automotive and space chips in particular face long, strict qualification processes before any buyer commits.

He also said the government needs to help build markets for locally designed chips, so that Malaysian products attract customers and encourage further investment. Malaysia is drawing on its collaboration with Arm to access design IP, and its National Semiconductor Strategy aims to train and upskill 60,000 engineers.

Key takeaway: the RM300 million figure is potential, not booked revenue. Watch for customer wins and qualification milestones over the next year.

Talent and the design parks

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said the state's two IC design parks, in Puchong and Cyberjaya, now host 407 engineers across 20 companies. That is still a modest base compared with established chip design hubs, which is why talent programmes are central to the strategy. Our earlier report on Selangor's IC design push covers the state's wider ambitions.

What to watch next

Akmal described turning the six designs into viable products as a long journey. Useful signs of progress over the coming months would include:

1. Named customers or pilot deployments for any of the six chips.
2. Completion of industry qualification, especially for the automotive and space products.
3. Follow-on funding rounds for the companies involved.
4. Growth in the number of engineers working in the design parks.

The government also plans to support semiconductor startups and expand training. The Arm On-Demand Training programme, for example, targets 10,000 Malaysian talents in specialised IC design skills over four years. Each of these is a more reliable measure of success than headline sales potential.

What it means for Malaysians

For engineering students and graduates, IC design is a growing career path that no longer requires moving abroad. For SMEs in electronics, robotics and automotive parts, locally designed chips could eventually mean closer technical support and shorter supply chains. For the wider economy, design work tends to capture more value per chip than assembly and testing.

It will take years to know whether these six products succeed commercially. The signal is that Malaysia is trying to move up from making chips to designing them.

The launch is a confidence boost for local chip designers. Its real test will be whether these products find paying customers at home and overseas.