Dagang NeXchange Berhad, a Malaysian tech firm signed a memorandum of understanding with Big Innovation Holding Limited, a subsidiary of Foxconn, a key iPhone assembler, to build a chip fabrication plant in Malaysia. In accordance with the deal, a subsidiary set up a joint venture that will build and function a fab in the Southeast Asian country which will emit 12-inch wafers, with process nodes ranging from 28 to 40nm. The plant will have the capacity of manufacturing 40,000 wafers a month. The chip produced will be used in electric vehicles to cope up with the booming demand.
According to the MoU, Foxconn will have a seat in the board with about 5% stake in DNex, giving the company indirect control over Silterra’s 8-inch plant in Malaysia. DNex is the parent company of Silterra.
The exact location of the plant is yet to be decided. Based on the technology involved and the production capacity the size of the investment is estimated to be in between $3 billion to $5 billion.
The chips produced are most widely used for microcontrollers, sensors, driving integrated circuits and connectivity-related chips including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
In February Foxconn announced its plan to build a chip facility in India with Vedanta, a natural resource conglomerate. In 2021 Foxconn also bought a chip plant in Hsinchu, Taiwan, to develop silicon carbide chips for automotive uses.
