Year 2023: Seize opportunities towards the next leap

2022 is an action-packed year for Penang. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Penang’s industrialisation this year, the stellar performance garnered in the past has greatly attested the robustness and remarkable resilience the state possesses. Not resting on our laurels, the state will continue to uphold our competitive edges, equipped ourselves and march towards 2023 confidently.

Penang is at the right place
Despite uncertainties in macroeconomic environment, Penang, being the economic powerhouse of the country, Penang is in good position for its stakeholders to unleash greater potential and progress steadily.

The massive investment inflows into Penang have demonstrated investors’ continued confidence on the state. Particularly, Penang has garnered a total of RM149 billion approved manufacturing investment over the past 10 years (2012 – 2021) and recorded its all-time high of RM76 billion in 2021. In the services sector, the approved investment amounted to RM26 billion in 2019 to 2021. In January to September 2022, Penang is also among the top contributors of the country, clocking in RM9.2 billion of total approved investments in its approved manufacturing investments.

The strong influx of strategic investment projects in Penang has resulted in positive spillover effects in strengthening local capabilities. The strong linkages of multinational corporations in Penang with our domestic economy created numerous supply chain localisation opportunities for the homegrown players, especially the small and medium enterprises. InvestPenang as the state’s investment promotion agency, strives to provide the necessary facilitation and place continuous effort to encourage supply chain localisation.

Beyond 2022
Looking at the past, there is much to be encouraged about, and to motivate us to do even better in the coming year. The state’s well-developed industrial ecosystem not only enable us to move up the value chain, but also opens up countless opportunities in other areas.

1.According to Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Penang has contributed an average 65% of the country’s export in professional, scientific and controlling instruments and apparatus (including medical devices) in 2017 – 2021. Sustaining its excellence, Penang is on the right trajectory of becoming the MedTech hub for Asia, equivalent to the world’s top offshore manufacturing hubs like Puerto Rico, Ireland and Costa Rica.

2.While we continue to uphold Penang’s competitive edge by strengthening our existing semiconductor clusters, strategies are also in place for Penang to penetrate into the upstream activities such as IC design and front-end equipment manufacturing, as well as to enhance the robustness of our semiconductor supply chain.

3.In Malaysia, the digital economy is expected to contribute 23% of the country’s GDP and create over 500,000 jobs by 2025. Leveraging on our manufacturing excellence, Penang could take a leading role in enhancing Malaysia’s ecosystem that enabled the technological advancement and become the next frontier of digital economy.

4.Penang aspires to be a global innovation hub and is making significant progress. On this note, we are proud to see a growing presence of global leaders that have opted Penang to conduct their research, design and development activities. Above that, Penang is seeing an emergence of knowledge-based solution providers that brings efficiency and flexibility to the traditional business models.

5.With the escalating pace of technological evolution, revolutionary changes to the traditional food industry are to be expected. Aside from food manufacturing, Penang has been nurturing players in the foodtech and agritech sectors to drive farming efficiencies and to ensure their sustainability. This includes the use of sensors, data analytic applications, water and waste management solutions, among others.

Penang will continue to benefit from the evolvement of technology and supply chain reconfiguration due to the strong ecosystem and strong track record in investment attraction. Sharp policies and quick implementation are key in enabling Penang to seize the opportunities arising from the megatrends and becoming more vertically integrated into the world map of technology.

DATO’ SERI LEE KAH CHOON
Special Investment Advisor to the Chief Minister of Penang

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