Malaysia aims to place locally manufactured chips developed through its collaboration with Arm Ltd into production and the national semiconductor supply chain by 2030. Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said companies receiving technology-access packages generally need about three years to develop their designs before manufacturing can begin. Four local companies are now at the early design and intellectual-property evaluation stage.

The first access package was awarded at the end of 2025, placing the expected completion of initial designs around 2028. Akmal Nasrullah said additional time will then be needed for production and for the chips to be accepted by identified customers. He presented new offer letters to Oppstar Technology Sdn Bhd and Alphaswift Industries Sdn Bhd in Putrajaya on August 21.

Both companies received access to Arm Compute Subsystem technology and the Arm Flexible Access programme to speed up integrated-circuit design, research and semiconductor development. Malaysia has now awarded eight access packages, divided equally between the two programmes. The Compute Subsystem route allows companies to develop their own chips or intellectual property for areas such as vehicle automation and servers, while Flexible Access gives participants wider exposure to Arm technology.

The government is also seeking to keep manufacturing activity in Malaysia and require participating companies to recruit highly skilled local engineers. The wider collaboration includes training for 10,000 participants through a 200-hour online course and integrated programmes with the Advanced Semiconductor Academy of Malaysia under the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation. Akmal Nasrullah said some graduates had secured starting monthly salaries of RM5,000 to RM5,100, rising to RM8,000 or RM9,000 after two to three years of experience.