SilTerra focuses on human capital development to benefit semiconductor ecosystem

SilTerra focuses on human capital development to benefit semiconductor ecosystem

23 Mar 2022

Fresh from announcing its RM645 million investment in an expansion plan to turn around the company, SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd now plans to focus on human capital development for the benefit of the local semiconductor ecosystem.

Executive chairman Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said SilTerra had formed collaborations with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP).

Under the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between SilTerra, USM and UTeM, as well as Letter of Intent (LoI) with UniMAP, the parties will develop and promote education and training programmes for talent development and joint research and development (R&D) tailored to the needs of the semiconductor industry ecosystem in Malaysia.

“Following the MoUs and LoI signings today, we will look into an annual budget of RM1.5 million for human capital development and offer 60 internship positions for these three universities, where we aim to recruit at least 30 students annually.

“On the R&D, our aspiration is to invest RM1 million yearly and we will be working closely with these universities to identify the potential projects,” he told a press conference after the signing ceremony here, today.

Also present were USM vice chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan, UTeM deputy vice chancellor Prof Dr Ghazali Omar, and UniMAP vice chancellor Lt Col Prof Zaliman Sauli.

SilTerra, Malaysia’s largest semiconductor wafer foundry, began its transformation journey last year after Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) acquired a 60 per cent stake in SilTerra from Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Syed Zainal Abidin, who is also DNeX  group managing director, said SilTerra had been very busy in the last eight months as it braced the challenges in the semiconductor industry.

“Our focus has also been trying to improve efficiency at our plant and, for the past months, we have achieved yield of 99 per cent, our productivity is improving,” he said, adding that the company’s backlog orders would clear in six to 12 months.

Source: Bernama