Phison’s silicon wafer plan; Mandarin, Hokkien, the main lure

Pua: ‘The assembly of the finished flash memory products would be outsourced to small and medium enterprises in the country.’

Phison’s silicon wafer plan  
By DAVID TAN  davidtan@thestar.com.my

Its partner Silterra may produce essential components in Kulim

GEORGE TOWN: Phison Electronics Corp's partner Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd may undertake the production of silicon wafer in Kulim Hi-Tech Park for the flash memory chips to be developed and designed in Penang.

Phison chairman and chief executive officer Pua Khein-Seng told StarBiz that Silterra was now studying the feasibility of manufacturing the silicon wafer for the Phison's unit, which would be established in Penang in three to six months.

“The unit will undertake the development and design of flash memory applications and solution products. Our other partner, Index Diversified Sdn Bhd, will distribute and market them in the local and South-East Asia markets,” he said.

“The assembly of the finished flash memory products would be outsourced to small and medium enterprises in the country. We will decide on the volume of units to be produced six months later,” he added.

Pua also said that the investment of US$1mil to US$3mil would be for the salaries of engineers and purchasing the necessary equipment.

Also present were Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Silterra chief executive officer Dr Kamarulzaman Mohamed Zin, and Silterra Sales and Marketing (L) Ltd, Taiwan Branch senior vice-president Lai Yit Loong.

Lai said the flash memory product, which could be in the form secure-digital and smart cards, would be used in tablets, ultrabooks.

“The flash memory products will also be targeted for use in mobile payment platform and in video recorders for automobiles,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lim said the importance of Phison's investment was that it would lead to talent and technology transfer to Penang.

“The Phison unit will likely be located on the island, and the state government will provide the necessary assistance for the group to establish its presence here,” Lim added.

Phison Electronics Corp was established in November 2000 at Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Starting with the world's first single-chip USB flash drive IC, Phison is now a market leader in NAND Flash controllers and applications including USB, SD, eMMC, PATA and SATA products.

In 2010, the company shipped over 500 million controllers worldwide and topped US$1bil in sales revenue.

Phison also offers system and OEM services for major retail brand names. Founded in November 1995 as Wafer Technology Malaysia Sdn Bhd and renamed as Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd in December 1999, the company offers complementary metalic oxide semiconductor design and a broad range of fabrication processes for integrated chips in advanced logic, mixed signal and radio frequency and high voltage applications.

The principal investor of Silterra is Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

  Mandarin; Hokkien, the main lure
 
By TAN SIN CHOW sctan@thestar.com.my

GEORGE TOWN: The Hokkien connection has once again put Penang in the limelight, albeit, this time on a positive note.

Taiwan-based Phison Engineering Corp has chosen to set up its first Malaysian branch in the state this year because the Hokkien dialect is widely used here.

According to its chairman and chief executive officer Pua Khein-Seng, who was raised in Sekinchan, Selangor, the Mandarin and Hokkien dialects were among the reasons for setting up their Malaysian unit in Penang.

Given a choice, the 38-year-old Malaysian said he would have chosen Kuala Lumpur as it was nearer to his hometown. “However, the move will not be viable as my working team from Taiwan only speaks Mandarin and Minnan (which is similar to Hokkien).

“I have a lot of engineers, some of them Malaysians, who do not have a strong command of English or Bahasa Malaysia as they have been based in Taiwan for far too long. They will not be able to survive in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is better for them to be here as the Chinese community here speaks Mandarin and Minnan,” he said during a question-and-answer session during his talk on “Driven to Success Road to Build a $1billion Company”.

Just last month, the Hokkien connection put Penang in the limelight when police busted a Taiwanese-led international Internet syndicate which had chosen the island as its base so that its members could blend in.

Pua said another plus point was the many well-trained engineers and industry players available here. “Here, materials are easily available from the semiconductor and electronics companies.”

Pua, who describes Malaysia as his motherland and Taiwan as his second home, is the inventor of the pen drive when he was only 27.

Phison was set up in November 2000 and within six months Pua had come up with the invention.

Related post:
 Taiwan's Phison IC design project, a 'brain gain' for Malaysia

Taiwan's Phison IC design project, a 'brain gain' for Malaysia

By CECILIA KOK cecilia_kok@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Phison Engineering Corp will set up a branch in Malaysia, with operations targeted to begin in the next three to six months.

The Taiwan-listed company, which specialises in the design of integrated circuit (IC) for use in data storage devices, would base its Malaysian unit in the northern region.

It would operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary before becoming an “independent” company after three years.

“We choose the northern region in Malaysia because we find that there is some semblance of ecosystem there that can provide a better environment for our operations to thrive,” Phison chairman and CEO Pua Khein-Seng said.

“We also want to be close to our clients who are mostly based in the north for the sake of cost as well as operational efficiencies,” he said at a press conference in conjunction with the launch of his book, Driven to Success.

Pua, a Malaysian raised in Sekinchan, Selangor, founded Phison with four of his university friends in 2000. He left to study engineering in Taiwan in 1993 and lived there after graduation.

For a start, Phison will have Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a semiconductor wafer maker owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, as the main partner for its Malaysian unit.

On the initial capital outlay for Phison's project in Malaysia, Pua said it would range from US$1mil (RM3.03mil) to US$3mil.

He stressed that Phison was not a “manufacturing” operation that required high capital investment to set up operations and buy equipment. All it needed was the right amount of space and several engineers.

“Our Malaysian unit will have the full support of our team in Taiwan during the initial stage because we want to ensure 100% success of our venture in Malaysia,” Pua said.

StarBizWeek broke the news about Pua planning to set up a Phison branch in Malaysia last Saturday.

The report, quoting sources, also said Mida had drawn up a list of attractive incentives to entice Pua to set up the IC design house in Malaysia.

Mida CEO Datuk Noharuddin Nordin said the incentives were one of the attractions.

“But while we cannot disclose the details of the incentives we are giving Phison, we can tell you that whatever we give to Phison is nothing more than what we are giving to our other investors.”

“Historically, the E&E (electrical and electronics) sector has been a major contributor to Malaysia's gross domestic product growth,” he said.

“Under the Economic Transformation Programme, which includes E&E as the National Key Economic Areas, IC design has been identified as one of the key components that would accelerate the growth of the semiconductor cluster in Malaysia, with a target of 50 new IC design houses and five more Mature Technology Semiconductor Foundries to be established by 2020,” he said.

He added that the initiative was expected to generate an additional gross national income of RM7.4bil and create 8,500 highly skilled jobs for the industry.

Describing Pua's project in Malaysia as “brain gain” for Malaysia, Noharuddin said he hoped Phison's presence would help establish an ecosystem that would encourage overseas talent to return to the country.

Pua has a 2.55% stake Phison that has a market capitalisation of NT$47bil (RM4.8bil).

The company counts heavyweights such as Toshiba Corp, Kingston Technology, Vanguard Group Inc, Blackrock and Fidelity as its other shareholders.