Samsung plans LED plant in Malaysia

By Marina Emmanuel

South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is expected to make a high-value reinvestment announcement in Malaysia soon for a light emitting diode plant.


Business Times learnt that the company, which has a Malaysian production facility for cathode ray tubes (CRT is the technology used in traditional computer monitors and televisions) in Negeri Sembilan, is exiting this business and replacing it with the LED facility.

The investment figure for this new venture is unknown, along with the number of people the company is expected to hire.

"No layoffs are expected, however, from those who were hired in the CRT production," a source said.

Samsung is due to make the new reinvestment announcement when South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak visits Kuala Lumpur this month.

Established in 1995, Samsung Electronics Display (M) Sdn Bhd (SDMA) is located in the Samsung Electronics Complex in Seremban.

The company was reported to manufacture Samsung televisions as well as monitors for the domestic and export markets.

In 2006, the company was said to have 1,000 people on its payroll.

Meanwhile, the status of Samsung's plans to set up a RM3.5 million memory chip facility on mainland Penang in Batu Kawan is still unknown.

"No progress has been made on this," a source said.

It was reported two years ago that Samsung was looking to hire as many as 2,000 people when it opens its new manufacturing facility in Penang and the project was supposed to break ground by the end of last year, with full production commencing in 2011.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who visited Seoul in July this year, had said that the Samsung Group had expressed an interest in solar energy, LED, defence equipment and shipbuilding.

When visiting Samsung City in Suwon, he was reportedly briefed by Samsung Group Malaysia's president Datuk Lee Sang-Bai on the company's plans in Malaysia over the next five years.

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