Malaysia's high-tech aim gets boost with Japanese microchip
Malaysia's high-tech aim gets boost with Japanese microchip
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
A Japanese firm unveiled plans to produce a revolutionary
microchip in Malaysia as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad held
talks here on Thursday with global hi-tech chiefs.
FEC (M) Sdn. Bhd. chief executive Kunioki Ichioka was quoted
by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia as saying the patent for
producing and marketing the MM chip would be shifted to Malaysia
in six months.
Measuring 0.5 of a square millimeter and produced at less than
0.38 ringgit (US$10 cents) each, he said the chip would cut the
production cost of Malaysia's national "smart identity card" from
seven ringgit to one ringgit.
The smart card, the world's first for citizens, launched two
years ago, wraps passport, identification, driver's license,
medical and other personal details in a piece of plastic the size
of a credit card.
Ichioka said the MM chip can also be inserted into the human
body, bullets, credit cards and other items for verification
purposes, and can replace price bar codes used to tag products.
The chip will be manufactured in FEC's factory in northern
Kedah state.
Asked if MM was an acronym for Mahathir Mohamad, he said:
"Maybe, it can also stand for Microchip Malaysia."
Officials said further details would be announced later on
Thursday by Mahathir after his annual talks with members of the
International Advisory Panel on development of Malaysia's
Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), which aims to make the country a
high-tech hub.
Only 17 out of some 50 members of the MSC panel were attending
Thursday's session while another 14 had sent representatives.
On the agenda are business strategies in the new economy,
global outsourcing, broadband technologies, research,
nanotechnology and biotechnology, officials said.
The MSC, a hi-tech enclave modeled after California's Silicon
Valley, was launched in 1996 by the 77-year-old Mahathir who
wants to see Malaysia become a developed nation by 2020.
Stretching about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south from Kuala
Lumpur to the new international airport, it now houses 887
technology firms, 29 institutions of higher learning and nine
incubator companies.
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who will takeover
from Mahathir when he retires at the end of October after 22
years in power, earlier this week said the MSC had achieved much
success.
He said a total of 21,102 jobs were expected to be created
within the MSC this year, up almost ten-fold from 2,190 jobs on
offer in 1997.
Total revenue of MSC firms is expected to surge from 3.93
billion ringgit in 2002 to an estimated 5.83 billion ringgit this
year, and 7.98 billion in 2004, he said.
Mahathir previously said the hub had not contributed to the
economy as much as he expected. Critics have complained of a lack
of focus, excessive bureaucratic red-tape and a shortage of
skilled labor.
But investment in the MSC has recently picked up pace with
British banking group HSBC and Sweden's telecoms firm Ericsson
launching regional centers in the zone in July.