PENANG – The Silicon Valley of the East

When one talks about Malaysia, one has to talk about Penang. Multi-culturally cosmopolitan, delectable street food, beaches, healthcare, history and heritage – all are crème-de-la-crème stuff. However, too, most would miss that Penang is a significant exporter of electric and electronic components of the world. From the household appliances to the laptops and the very cell phone one has, Penang most likely has a hand in it.

Penang comprises the mainland (Seberang Perai, old name Province Wellesley) and the Penang Island itself, once dubbed the Pearl of the Orient. Both have a total land area of approximately 1000 square kilometres (247,000 acres), so she is one of the smallest states in Malaysia with a small population too – 1.8 million people. Still, in 2019, Penang produced and exported approximately 5% of the global semiconductor! Moreover, it does not end there, as she is also a significant producer of professional, scientific and controlling instruments.

In these two segments, Penang cornered 50% of Malaysia’s exports. With this, too, the FDI kept coming in -2019, and 2020 saw RM31 billion (USD7.5b) investments for E&E, medical equipment and technology sectors. Penang is now home to more than 350 multinationals with well over 3000 SMEs in the supply chain. The resilience is telling, and it is the hallmark of the state. The following tables briefly show her performance in numbers

The bulk of the industrial lands are either in Bayan Lepas Industrial Area (FTZ), Penang Island and Batu Kawan (Seberang Perai). Furthermore, here is a snapshot of a selected few deals:

Penang Batu Kawan: Transacted price of Industrial Land 2020/ 2021

Source: EdgeProp

This article was written by Irhamy Ahmad.