Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), through its Partnership & Ecosystem Building (PEB), in collaboration with CREST and NCER, recently convened senior industry and ecosystem leaders for the Semiconductor Industry Strategic Engagement: “Unleashing the Semiconductor Growth Potential: Innovation and Technologies Value Co-Creation” in Penang.

Setting the stage for the conversation were three key industry and ecosystem perspectives from Dato’ Seri Wong Siew Hai, President of the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA); Ts Jaffri Ibrahim, Chief Executive Officer of CREST; and Tan Eng Tong of ET Partners and the Malaysia Advanced Packaging Consortium (MAPC).

Their insights framed the opportunities and challenges facing Malaysia as the nation seeks to strengthen its position and move further into higher-value segments of the semiconductor value chain.

The Strategic Leadership Roundtable brought together an exceptional panel of industry leaders, including Dato’ Dr Hari Narayanan, Chief Executive Officer of Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC); Dato’ Chu Jenn Weng, Chief Executive Officer of ViTrox Corporation Berhad; Siti Padillah Abdul Wahab, Chief Executive Officer of CG Global Profastex Manufacturing; Dato’ Ts. Dr. Shanmuganathan Palanisamy, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ECTrons; Chong Kok Ming, Chief of Staff of SkyeChip; Tan Eng Tong; Ong Chin Hu, Chief Executive Officer of GreatAsic Technology; Dr YT Chin, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Connect; Afdzal Syahadat Husin, Chief Executive Officer of MIMOS Tech; Ir Dr Bernard Lim Kee Weng, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Sandcomm; and Azmi Ibrahim, Director at AT&S and Board Member of CREST.

Together, they brought perspectives spanning established industry players, home-grown technology companies, deep-tech ventures, talent development and the wider semiconductor ecosystem.

The conversation then moved from strategic perspectives to focused co-creation through three parallel dialogues on Technology & Innovation, Ventures & Scale-Up, and Talent & Future Capabilities, exploring the technologies and R&D capabilities to prioritise, how home-grown innovations can move more effectively towards commercialisation and scale, and the talent and competencies required for the industry’s next phase of growth.

The engagement surfaced potential opportunities for technology and R&D collaboration, venture creation and scale-up, talent development, and stronger industry–academia partnerships.

For UTP, however, this was not the finishing line. It was the starting point. Through PEB, UTP will continue working with its academic and research community, industry and ecosystem partners to translate the insights and connections from the engagement into meaningful collaborations and tangible outcomes.

Bringing the ecosystem together. Connecting capabilities. Co-creating solutions. Creating impact.