CHIPX, a semiconductor and photonics manufacturer, has announced plans to establish an 8-inch (200mm) wafer fabrication facility in Malaysia, positioning the project as a move that would expand the country’s front-end semiconductor manufacturing capability.
The company said the site would introduce gallium nitride and silicon carbide (GaN/SiC) manufacturing and support development work in photonics, high-bandwidth optical interconnects and advanced materials engineering aimed at next-generation AI and high-performance computing applications.
The company described the planned facility as the first 8-inch GaN/SiC wafer fab of its kind in the ASEAN region.
CHIPX said the initiative will include investment in infrastructure, R&D and engineering teams, talent development programmes and structured technology-transfer activities intended to build local expertise.
It added that it plans to leverage Malaysia’s emerging silicon-photonics ecosystem and provide a fabrication base for next-generation transceivers and receivers designed to enable ultra-high-speed connectivity for AI data centres and intelligent systems.
Chinmoy Baruah, CEO and founder of CHIPX, said: “We are bringing advanced front-end manufacturing and photonics capabilities to Malaysia to accelerate the country’s move into front-end semiconductor production and to establish the ultra-high-bandwidth, energy-optimised compute architectures required to scale the next generation of AI systems.”
The Dublin-based company’s own materials describe it as developing a vertically integrated platform spanning advanced materials, power devices and system-level design, with target markets including AI, aerospace and mobility.
CHIPX said it is executing the venture with strategic international investors and “leading Taiwanese semiconductor partners”, aiming to bring additional engineering capability into Malaysia’s semiconductor ecosystem, though no partner names, investment value, site location or delivery timeline were disclosed in the announcement.
The company framed the project as aligned with Malaysia’s industrial policy direction, citing the National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS), the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP 2030) and the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR).
Malaysia’s NSS sets out a phased plan to move up the value chain and has explicitly signalled an ambition to attract higher-end wafer fabrication as part of its longer-term development pathway.
Malaysia has been positioning itself to capture more value from semiconductors beyond its established role in outsourced assembly and test.
Reuters has reported that Malaysia accounts for around 13% of global semiconductor testing and packaging and that the government has been preparing additional incentives to support the sector, following major investments from international firms in recent years.
The announcement also lands in a market where wide-bandgap semiconductors such as GaN and SiC are attracting sustained interest for power and high-efficiency compute applications.
While CHIPX is positioning its planned Malaysian site around GaN/SiC and photonics, Malaysia has already attracted front-end investment in SiC manufacturing, including Infineon’s 200mm silicon carbide power semiconductor facility in Kulim, which the company has described as a major expansion of its SiC production footprint.
If delivered at scale, the CHIPX facility would add to the region’s expanding focus on compound semiconductors and AI-oriented infrastructure, with the company emphasising domestic capability-building alongside manufacturing capacity.
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