Penang Investment Updates

Penang Investment
Updates
2nd Quarter 2012 (March –
June)
Investment Promotion and Mission
March 1 – 3, 2012 – The Penang Investment
Promotion Mission to Japan was led by
Chief Minister, the Rt. Hon. Lim Guan Eng.
The objectives of the mission were to enhance
visibility and further promote Penang as the
location of choice for Japanese investors; and
strengthen ties with Japanese companies in
Japan to attract new investments and
reinvestments in Penang. The mission
targeted Japanese companies that have
operations in Penang and are planning for
expansion.
PIC: Investment Promotion Mission to Japan
March 23 – 25, 2012 – Chief Minister, the Rt.
Hon. Lim Guan Eng led an investment
promotion mission to Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia. The objectives of the mission were
to enhance visibility and further promote
Penang as a location of choice for Australian
investors in BPOs and services sector; and to
attract talents, including Malaysian students
and diaspora to Penang. Seminars, business
meetings and dialogue sessions were held
with the Australian Malaysian Business
Council, Asia Link (an initiative of the Myers
Foundation) and the Malaysian Australia
Student Council of Melbourne, Victoria. The
Penang CAT Centre took the opportunity to
promote Penang as a great place to live, work
and play.
PICS: Australia Malaysia Business Council Seminar
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As of 16 July 2012
Choice of Investor
March 5, 2012 –
Phison of Taiwan
announced the
establishment of its
engineering
development and
design centre in
Penang. The
centre will be
involved in the
development and
design of chip,
system design and
marketing. With an initial investment of USD1
– 3 million, the centre in Penang involves a
tripartite partnership comprising Phison
conducting the design, Silterra engaging in
wafer fabrication and Index Diversified
responsible for sales, marketing and
distribution. Penang is Phison’s first offshore
site outside Taiwan. Phison is a NAND flash
application solution provider that also designs
controller IC and system integration.
May 9, 2012 – Bose Corp signed the sales
and purchase agreement with Penang
Development Corporation (PDC) for a 23-acre
th
site at Batu Kawan Industrial Park as its 6
wholly-owned manufacturing plant and the first
combined manufacturing and development
facility in Asia Pacific. The Penang facility is
expected to join the ranks of Bose’s other
production facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico
and Ireland and will produce consumer,
automotive and professional audio products for
Bose’s customers in Australia, China, India,
Japan, the UAE and other ASEAN countries.
Bose is a world renowned high-end and highperformance audio company.
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K.S. Pua, Chairman and CEO of Phison
Electronics Corp, was born and raised in the
village of Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia. He
received his Degree in Electronic & Control
Engineering in 1997 from National Chiao Tung
University. During his third year in the
university, he began research in flash memory
technology in his professor's company. At the
age of 26, he founded Phison Electronics with
four partners. Phison produced the first USB
flash drive with system-on-chip (SOC)
technology in the world in 2001. Despite living
in Taiwan for the past 16 years, Pua still
considers Malaysia as his home. Phison
decided on investing in Penang because of the
availability of world class infrastructure as well
as the excellent human resource. Phison has
also chosen Penang to be its first location
outside Taiwan.
PIC: Exchange of Agreement at the Signing
Ceremony
As of 16 July 2012
MAY 15, 2012 – PDC, Malaysian Automotive
Lighting (MAL) and Daya CMT signed a
tripartite agreement, with PDC offering 14
acres of land in Batu Kawan Industrial Park
(BKIP) for the establishment of a 26,632 sq. m.
manufacturing plant for MAL’s expansion
project worth RM117 million. In the next 4
years, MAL is expected to create additional
240 jobs, to add on to its existing workforce of
960 people. Construction of MAL’s new facility
at BKIP commenced in March this year, by
Daya CMT Sdn. Bhd, a turnkey contractor
appointed by PDC. Construction of the facility
is expected to be completed by January 2013,
wherein PDC will lease the land and building
to MAL for a period of 20 years with an option
to extend for another 10 years. MAL will be
using the new facility to produce car lamps,
rear lamps, fog lamps and other automotive
accessories for the global market.
The New Honeywell UOP plant in Prai (Source: The
Star)
PIC: Signing Ceremony Between PDC,
Malaysian Automotive Lighting (MAL), PDCC &
Daya CMT (Source: PDC)
May 24, 2012 – UOP
LLC, a Honeywell
company announced the
opening of its gas processing membrane
manufacturing centre in Seberang Perai,
Penang. This centre will produce natural gas
membrane elements, under the Separex
brand, to support the growing natural gas
market. Currently, there are two production
lines at the Penang facility and there is room
for another production line. The Penang
facility will enable the expansion of UOP’s
membrane manufacturing capacities as well as
to increase UOP’s presence in the region.
Chief Minister, the Rt. Hon. Lim Guan Eng
officiated the opening of the facility. UOP is
headquartered in Illinois, US and is a leading
international supplier and licensor of process
technology, catalysts, absorbents, process
plants, and consulting services to the
petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas
processing industries.
Honeywell’s UOP Separex™ membrane systems
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As of 16 July 2012
Business Process Outsourcing
(BPO)
Penang has been identified as a prime location
with significant outsourcing potential due to the
presence of many multinational companies.
The availability of trained, skilled and
multilingual workforce in Penang’s proximity to
the major client bases are the main reasons
for KPMG to rank the state as one of 31
outsourcing hubs of the future. Moreover,
Penang is providing a growing number of BPO
companies because of the opportunities in
creating higher paid jobs. BPO or shared
services & outsourcing companies that are
servicing the export market will be entitled for
the MSC- Malaysia status.
March 4 – 6, 2012 – BPO Seminar in Hong
Kong. In Hong Kong, investPenang organised
a seminar, “Exploring New Opportunities in
SSO/BPO in Penang”. Other than marketing
Penang as the destination of choice for BPO
and KPO, the seminar was also a means to
renew and strengthen ties with business and
financial leaders in Hong Kong.
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With effect from January 1, 2012, companies
applying for the MSC-Malaysia status have a
wider choice of locations because of the
revision of requirements by the Multimedia
Development Corporation (MDec). MDec now
allows MSC-Malaysia companies to have the
option to locate in non-MSC designated
commercial buildings within an approved MSC
boundary, e.g. Penang MSC Cybercity.
Companies that take this option will be
required to forgo the Bill of Guarantee 1 (BOG
1), i.e. the provision of world-class physical
and information infrastructure. Taking into
consideration of the importance of BPO,
investPenang is aggressively promoting BPO’s
via the following seminars.
May 30 – 31 – BPO Seminar in Singapore,
“Exploring New Opportunities in SSO/BPO
in Penang.” The Penang Investment and
Tourism Office (PITO), a branch of
investPenang organised the seminar which
attracted targeted Singaporean businessmen
who are currently or planning to be engaged in
the shared services and outsourcing (SSO)
activities. The seminar also aimed at
establishing contacts with international SSO
companies in Singapore as well as to
understand their needs and requirements.
As of 16 July 2012
Conferencing and Exhibition
April 25, 2012 – MSC Malaysia properties:
Opportunities & Benefits to Stakeholders
was held at Vistana Hotel and attracted 60
participants from 33 properties developers and
utilities companies. The event covered the
opportunities in Penang Cybercity, the demand
and supply on office space particularly from
BPO companies, the development of
Multimedia Supercorridor, MSC Malaysiastatus infrastructure and revised MDEC
policies on MSC Malaysia Requirement
Location and performance standards
governing the award of MSC Malaysia status
to stakeholders.
(For more information):
http://www.investpenang.gov.my/portal/pdf/Revised_
MSC_Malaysia_Location_Requirement.pdf
PICS: Guests at the MSC Malaysia Properties event
May 22, 2012 – The Penang SME Forum
2012 held at Traders Hotel attracted 130
participants from 65 different companies.
Various topics of interest were deliberated,
which include industry trends and investment
updates; Malaysia’s involvement in Free Trade
Agreements; investment opportunities in the
manufacturing & service sectors in Malaysia;
SME development programmes in the country;
opportunities in Halal sectors; building global
supply chain; human resource development
and border carbon adjustment.
(For more information):
http://smartpenang.my/index.php?option=com_conten
t&view=article&id=136:2012-penang-smeforum&catid=42:past-event&Itemid=134
PICS: The Penang SME Forum 2012 at Traders Hotel
(left)
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As of 16 July 2012
June 6, 2012 – Dialogue with companies in
Penang Science Park. In the quest to
provide a favourable and business friendly
environment to the companies that have
purchased land at Penang Science Park,
investPenang organised a briefing cum
dialogue session with the companies.
Representatives from the Penang
Development Corporation, Department of
Environment, Majlis Perbandaran Seberang
Perai and the Royal Malaysian Police were
invited to brief and facilitate the companies.
Issues on infrastructure planning,
environmental regulations and guidelines,
approval processes, park management and
security were discussed at the dialogue.
(For more information):
http://www.pdc.gov.my/index.php/2012-03-31-06-1413/styles/style3/84-property/135-penang-science-park
PICS: Dialogue with companies in Penang Science
Park
Foreign Delegation & Business
Matching
March 28 – 30, 2012 – investPenang played
host to the New Zealand Business
Delegation, their Malaysia-Brunei Trade
Mission. The 13-member business delegation
was in Penang to look for opportunities to
network, seek contacts and learn about the
Penang market, including exploring
partnership opportunities with Penang
businesses. A business matching session was
organised for the delegation with relevant
Penang businessmen from the food;
agroventures; precision engineering; tourism
and art, culture and heritage sectors. This
collaboration was supported by the Asean
New Zealand Combined Business Council
(ANZCBC) and the New Zealand High
Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
PICS: New Zealand Business Delegation networking
Session
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As of 16 July 2012
June 29, 2012 – The
delegation from Board of
Investment, Thailand visited
Penang and investPenang
took the opportunity to host a
Penang - Thailand Investment
Seminar with the participation
of local businessmen who are looking for
business opportunities in Thailand.
The delegation also had the opportunity to visit
a local factory which has operations in
Thailand.
Networking
June 29, 2012 – Once again investPenang
and PDC joined hands in organising the
Annual Local Fruits Party. The fruit party,
which was partially sponsored by State
Executive Counselor’s Office for International
Trade and Industry Development, attracted
180 guests from various sectors in Penang as
well as guests from overseas.
PICS: Annual Local Fruits Party
For more information or enquiries, please
contact:
~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you ~~~~~~~~~~
Invest-in-Penang Berhad
1 Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah
PSDC Building, Bayan Lepas
11900 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: (604) 6468833
Email: [email protected]
Fax: (604) 6468811
Website: www.investpenang.gov.my
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As of 16 July 2012