Ex-PM Mahathir’s dream – Silicon Valley in Malaysia

From answering Detroit with the Proton Saga car, just-retired Malaysia prime minister Mahathir hoped to turn Malaysia into another Silicon Valley.

"He wanted Malaysia to be an advanced high-tech country where the majority of Malaysians would find employment in technology-related jobs before the year 2020," A Selvaraj, a secretary to the deputy minister of works and services has told the EE Times.

Malaysia is one of the world's largest disk drive manufacturers and has a strong presence in Southeast Asia for auto and electrical parts and OEM components manufacturing and assembly. Mahathir guided investment into active and passive semiconductors during his 22-year tenure as prime minister.

Initial strengths in packaging and assembly were developed into higher value-added industries such as wafer fabrication and chip design. The report cited two examples, First Silicon and Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

First Silicon, a semiconductor foundry with a 200mm wafer fab, was opened two years ago with a $1bn investment from the Sarawak state government. A financial consultant at Evergreen Resource Investments, Malaysia, has confirmed Mahathir's behind-the-scenes support for the project.

Malaysia has come far from the currency crisis when critics said the IMF-opposed ringgit-pegging would drive away international investment and harm Malaysia's long term prospects. Its 2003 GDP is estimated to be around 5.5 to 6 per cent, higher than tech-heavy neighbour Singapore.

Lee Cheng Seng, a former Dell procurement officer in Malaysia told the EE Times that he believed the 78-year-old Mahathir had "single-handedly stopped the vicious cycle of currency hedging on the ringgit and proved to companies like Intel and Dell why Malaysia is an ideal manufacturing and logistics centre in Asia".