SIMMTECH Sets Up Advanced Manufacturing Facility in Malaysia

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SIMMTECH, a South Korea-based global leading manufacturer of semiconductor packaging substrate and HDI Printed Circuit Board (PCB), held the grand opening ceremony for its Malaysia-based subsidiary, SUSTIO in Batu Kawan Industrial Park, Penang. This new factory will be SIMMTECH’s first advanced manufacturing facility in Southeast Asia and the group’s eighth factory along with its other operations in Korea, China, and Japan. SUSTIO’s factory in Penang will increase SIMMTECH’s total capacity of substrate and PCB by 20 percent, which will immediately contribute to improving the semiconductor industry supply constraint situation which can aptly address the needs among the industry players.

The Chief Minister of Penang, the Honourable Mr. Chow Kon Yeow said “Penang is pleased to see an emergence of players along the semiconductor supply chain, enabling the State to reap a myriad of benefits from the increased robustness of its well-developed industrial ecosystem. Being the first major Korean investor from the semiconductor industry in Penang and a critical supplier for memory module PCB and substrate, the presence of SUSTIO is poised to bring greater opportunities for supply chain resiliency.”

“The State, via InvestPenang and other relevant state agencies, is committed to ensuring a versatile talent pool, supportive infrastructure, and resilient industry clusters. These are among the imperatives for effective supply chain management and sustained competitiveness, all of which are believed to add value to SUSTIO’s operation in Penang,” Chow elaborated.

Ms. Lim Bee Vian, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO), Investment Development, of Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) remarked, “We would like to congratulate SUSTIO on the opening of the new factory in Batu Kawan Industrial Park. It is formidable to see more new foreign investors recognize Malaysia as an integrated global manufacturing hub for the electrical and electronics (E&E) industry and SUSTIO is one of them. It is indeed the right choice. Today’s event is a testament to Malaysia’s business and manufacturing ecosystem’s competitive edge and reputation as an ideal destination for global and regional business expansions. Through SUSTIO’s new substrate and PCB factory it could serve as an important link in driving the global E&E supply chain”.

“This project is expected to employ a high-skilled workforce, especially Malaysians in the field of engineering, manufacturing, and quality management. The establishment of the plant will create greater opportunities for local companies through the vendor development program in the areas of automation, supply of raw materials, and quality control. This will also be a viable platform for collaboration with various local universities under the internship program,” she added. “We have already engaged with our key customers for the new site qualification program and are expecting to start delivering a mass volume of substrate and PCB products to the customers from the second half of this year,” said Mr. Jeffery Chun, the Managing Director of SIMMTECH SE ASIA.

“SUSTIO factory’s commencement is just in time for the new DRAM technology transition (DDR5). We will ramp up this new site mainly for our DRAM and NAND customers worldwide. We are very grateful to Malaysia’s Federal Government agency through MIDA and the Penang State Government agency, InvestPenang, for their tireless support to our project. We couldn’t have navigated our project in the challenging environment without them” said Mr. Chun.

In May 2021, SUSTIO broke ground on an 18-acre site at Batu Kawan Industrial Park investing more than RM600 million. Despite the lockdown, the practical construction work took only nine months to complete, and the factory is now fully equipped and ready to run mass production. SUSTIO has already employed more than 700 workforce and it will reach its full employment of more than 1,000 employees by next year. The new Penang factory will deliver the first ‘Made in Malaysia’ semiconductor memory chip packaging substrate and module/SSD PCB, bolstering Malaysia’s semiconductor supply chain even further.