Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed Intel plans to invest an additional MYR860 million ($208 million) to make the country its assembly and testing operations centre.

In a X post, Anwar said he held discussions with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan about strengthening Malaysia’s position as a high-quality investment destination, with Tan expressing confidence in the country’s long-term plans.

The chipmaker is putting the final touches on a MYR12 billion advanced packaging factory in Penang.

Malaysia’s semiconductor sector is attracting increased foreign investment, supported by government incentives, as it moves beyond traditional assembly and testing into advanced packaging and chip design.

The country accounts for about 10 per cent of global chip packaging, Bloomberg reported. In addition to Intel, GlobalFoundries and Infineon have major packaging facilities in the country.

Intel’s fortunes have turned around since Nvidia committed to investing $5 billion to acquire a 10 per cent equity stake while the US government paid $8.9 billion for about 10 per cent interest.