War on talent: Malaysia’s semiconductor industry plagued by lack of skilled workers
27 May, 2024
Within just a few months of working at her employer’s new manufacturing plant, senior process engineer Azzuani Abdul Aziz received several job offers. The 35-year-old Malaysian, who has a decade of experience in the semiconductor industry, is involved in front-end high-tech manufacturing where one in four employees is female.
Malaysia's semiconductor industry faces a severe talent shortage. Solutions include tailored courses, training programs, and possibly allowing foreign graduates to work. Multinational corps like Intel are investing to create high-paying jobs.
Her skillset means she is in high demand in her home country, which has grown to become the sixth-largest exporter of semiconductors in the world. The global semiconductor sector is also projected to be worth a trillion dollars by 2030.
While Malaysia's industry is booming, it currently faces a severe shortage of talent like Ms Azzuani. The government says it needs 50,000 skilled engineers, but Malaysian universities
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produce only about 5,000 engineers annually. Industry players are working closely with the government and universities to plug this talent gap. One potential solution they have found is tailoring courses to the needs of the sector.There are currently about 650,000 engineers in Malaysia, with a majority – almost 600,000 – working in the electrical and electronics products sector.
YOU HAVE TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
Ms Azzuani joined Austria-based tech giant AT&S two years ago. It supplies high-end printed circuit board and integrated circuit substrates – crucial components of almost every electronic device from mobile phones to computers.
She currently works at AT&S’s newest plant in Kulim, located in Kedah, which officially opened in January. The facility cost more than US$1.8 billion and will create about 6,000 jobs when it is operational by the end of 2024.
Mr Chen-Jiang Phua, managing director of AT&S (Malaysia), told CNA: “I've never seen the talent shortage as serious as (in) these few years, especially in the semiconductor, in the high-tech manufacturing (sectors).
“There are many investments not only in Malaysia, but also all over the world as we can see, so there is obviously a talent war out there and you have to do things differently,” he added.
Mr Phua noted that jobseekers look at potential growth opportunities, company culture, leadership and management, as well as what products the company is involved in.
To address the issue of brain drain, he said that employers have to offer competitive packages and train the young generation to master processes.
FOREIGN GRADUATES COULD BE ALLOWED
In the meantime, the country’s national semiconductor strategic taskforce is looking to allow foreign graduates to work in the industry to meet growing demand.
Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association president Wong Siew Hai said his organisation has developed a programme in a bid to solve the shortage of engineers. He similarly described the situation as a war on talent.
“I call it the war on talent because everybody is short on talent and they are here looking for talent, they are everywhere all over the world,” he told CNA.
Multinational corporations in Malaysia are also being encouraged to train young engineers.
As part of labour market reforms, the government launched the Academy in Industry programme last year, subidising training for school leavers to meet industry needs. It hopes tech giants will come on board.
United States chip giant Intel, which set up its first international manufacturing plant in Penang 50 years ago, is investing US$7 billion to expand its operations there.
Its new advanced packaging facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. It will create about 4,000 high-paying jobs at the company’s first overseas facility for advanced 3D chip packaging.
Under the New Industrial Masterplan 2030, the country is also aiming to create 700,000 high-paying jobs.
For AT&S’s Ms Azzuani, she got to receive valuable training when she was sent to the company’s Chongqing plant in China for six months.
She now gets to make integrated circuit substrates that are used in artificial intelligence – something she said she is “very excited” about. She also hopes to be a specialist in her field and become a senior manager in the future.
“Actually, right now, there are a few companies (that) want to (be in the) same industry like AT&S. (It depends) on you whether to accept,” Ms Azzuani told CNA.
“The most important (thing) other than salary is knowledge that I gained.”
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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