PUTRAJAYA — The government is targeting 2030 for the first “Made by Malaysia” chips developed using Arm Limited technology to enter production and the semiconductor supply chain.

Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said four companies have so far begun designing chips using technology from British semiconductor technology company Arm Limited, with the aim of eventually bringing their products into production and the semiconductor supply chain.

He said the companies were expected to take about three years to develop their products after gaining access to the relevant Arm technology, although the timeline would vary depending on the technology and market targeted.

“We hope the initial chip designs could be completed by 2028 before the companies move on to production and commercialisation,” he told a press conference at the Economy Ministry’s monthly assembly today.

“The development will take approximately about three years for them to come up with the chip.

“We are setting the target to produce the first one by 2030,” he added.

He added that the government wanted the chips not only to be designed locally but also to be produced and used in the semiconductor supply chain, subject to the companies’ ability to secure customers for their products.

In line with the target, the government today handed offer letters to Oppstar Technology Sdn Bhd and Alphaswift Industries Sdn Bhd for access to Arm Compute Subsystem (CSS) technology and the Arm Flexible Access (AFA) programme, respectively, under the strategic cooperation between Malaysia and Arm Limited.

Akmal said eight Arm technology-access packages — comprising four Arm CSS and four Arm Flexible Access tokens — had so far been offered to five local companies.

The access is intended to help local companies accelerate integrated circuit design and research and development activities in Malaysia, including in areas such as drones and advanced microelectronics.