As Malaysia looks towards creating its own 3nm chips, the future of semiconductors in the country looks positive. But while its collaboration with ARM is certainly interesting, it’s also unusual for its choice of ARM over RISC-V. What challenges do countries like Malaysia face, what exactly is it doing with ARM, and why could RISC-V have been a better choice?
What Challenges Do Countries Like Malaysia Face?
While there are numerous companies around the world that manufacture semiconductors, most of these are found in the US, Taiwan, and China. As such, these countries are almost always at the forefront of semiconductor development.
However, even with such capabilities, massive budgets, and fantastic research facilities, manufacturing semiconductors is no small feat, where even the most basic semiconductor devices can require extremely well trained staff, high-end equipment, and an extraordinary amount of control and care. For countries such as the US, Taiwan, and China, these are all areas that have been conquered well, and each has a real understanding of how to achieve success in the semiconductor field.
However, for smaller countries, such as Malaysia, whose economy is nowhere near as strong, this presents a multitude of issues when trying to enter such markets. To start, even though Malaysia has a large electronics sector, those who specialise in cutting-edge industries are often poached by other nations, especially the US and Japan, which starves the technical pool of engineers for Malaysian-based semiconductor companies.
The second challenge faced is trying to find the funding to support such industries. Funding such operations can take billions of dollars in investment, and given that countries like the US, Japan, and Taiwan have the supply chain and expertise to support these businesses, it is far easier to invest in those countries over Malaysia.
Thirdly, even if the funds are available, the infrastructure needed to create and maintain such an industry is often extremely challenging to establish. Everything from reliable power to clean water are utterly essential in any production process, where anything less can see massive losses.
All of these factors combine to make trying to develop a semiconductor industry in Malaysia an uphill challenge.
Malaysia Moves to Create 3nm Industry
Recently, Malaysia announced its plan to create a new generation of semiconductor manufacturers that will not only help to expand its economic capabilities but also move the country away from its reliance on other nations. According to reports, Malaysia is planning to create a truly “made-by-Malaysia” semiconductor chip within the next three years with the help of a strategic collaboration between Arm Ltd. and the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI).
It is believed that this move will see Malaysia shift away from its traditional role of being a semiconductor assembler to a higher-value-added semiconductor player that focuses on IC design, advanced packaging, and front-end chip manufacturing. Additionally, the country has reportedly given the green light to three local companies, GreatAsic Technology Sdn Bhd, SkyeChip Bhd, and Oppstar Technology Sdn Bhd, to access ARM’s suite of technology offerings and intellectual property.
One company, GreatAsic, has already begun developing its first server processor targeted at the rapidly growing data centre market. The development of these processors is expected to take two to three years. Other chip developers working with MOSTI are also said to be exploring automotive and industrial applications. The collaboration between MOSTI and ARM forms part of the Malaysian government’s larger ambition to expand the country’s semiconductor capabilities, outlined in its National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS), New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP), and 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP). The NSS aims to build 10 Malaysian semiconductor companies that will generate between RM1 billion and RM4.7 billion in annual revenue, while supporting another 100 companies with a total revenue potential of RM1 billion.
Additionally, Malaysia is also investing in semiconductor talent development, with plans to train 10,000 local IC design engineers over the next decade. The Malaysian Institute of Microelectronics Systems, a MOSTI subsidiary, is partnering with ARM to offer an ARM On Demand Training program. So far, over 1,300 Malaysians have participated in the training program, including undergraduates, postgraduates, and working professionals.
The move by MOSTI also demonstrates Malaysia’s commitment to becoming a regional hub for semiconductor design and manufacturing. By partnering with ARM, a leading provider of semiconductor IP and tools, the country is gaining access to cutting-edge technologies and expertise that will help it develop its own semiconductor capabilities.
Why RISC-V Could Be The Better Platform
It is truly exciting to see Malaysia working towards home-grown semiconductors, but from an outsider point of view, the choice of ARM is somewhat unusual. Now, from one point of view, it makes perfect sense to get a semiconductor company to come and help with the development of new products and solutions (such as TSMC has done with Apple), but from another point of view, choosing a proprietary platform such as ARM does introduce some very real issues.
For example, ARM being a closed platform means that it has specific licensing terms, which can hinder the ability for Malaysian-based manufacturers to offer competitive pricing for parts. Considering that the price of components is crucial for markets such as those in Malaysia, having additional costs and royalty structures can seriously hinder development.
RISC-V, on the other hand, is an open-source CPU architecture that is quickly gaining popularity in the semiconductor industry. It offers Malaysia an very real opportunity to develop its own custom CPU designs without relying on licensing fees or restrictions from third-party vendors.
However, this new partnership with ARM doesn’t mean that Malaysia and its businesses can’t work with RISC-V. In fact, it is more than possible for Malaysia to work on RISC-V devices, and to keep the collaboration with ARM focused about the development of new semiconductor manufacturing solutions (such as getting parts manufactured and tested correctly).
But overall, it is really exciting to see Malaysia looking to develop its own semiconductor capabilities. In general, as we move towards a more advanced future, it will be important for countries around the world to start thinking about self-sufficiency, especially in the field of semiconductors, and in cases where it makes sense, move away from dominant technologies (such as ARM) and look towards alternative solutions.
In the case of RISC-V, the market is still small, but this could present a golden opportunity for Malaysia to seize the market before others. Regardless, it will be exciting to see what Malaysia does with its semiconductor industry in the coming years.
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