Malaysia seeks to develop and produce the country's first locally manufactured chips using Arm Ltd technology by 2030 [1, 2, 3]. The government awarded eight Arm technology access tokens—four Arm Compute Subsystem (CSS) and four Arm Flexible Access tokens—to five local companies to accelerate chip design and development [2, 3]. Two firms, Oppstar Technology Sdn Bhd and Alphaswift Industries Sdn Bhd, received offer letters for Arm technology access on August 21, marking a key step in the process [1, 2, 3].
Currently, four companies are at the early chip design and intellectual property evaluation stage using the Arm technology [1, 2, 3]. Companies typically need about three years to develop chip designs before entering production [1, 2, 3]. Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said, "We hope the initial chip designs could be completed by 2028 before the companies move on to production and commercialisation. The development will take approximately about three years for them to come up with the chip. We are setting the target to produce the first one by 2030" [3]. He also noted the timeline considers both design and production phases, as well as the need for the chips to gain market acceptance from identified customers [2].
The government's goal extends beyond chip design to include local production and commercial use of semiconductors manufactured in Malaysia [1, 2, 3]. Access to Arm technology aims to boost integrated circuit design, research and development, and innovation in semiconductor technologies for areas like drones and advanced microelectronics [3]. The partnership with Arm is also expected to cultivate a pool of highly skilled Malaysian engineers and create economic benefits beyond just chip design [3].
The timeline started in December 2025, when the first Arm technology access token was obtained, marking the beginning of chip design efforts [1, 2]. Designs are expected to be completed by 2028, leading to production and commercialisation targeted for 2030 [1, 2, 3].
