Semiconductors will power the future of the world. As the world become more digital, semiconductors as the “brains” of all modern electronics will be ever more present in all sectors of the economy. Its pervasiveness and ubiquity is already very apparent especially during this period of COVID-19.

Today, the first Wednesday of October, AMCHAM held its' monthly Members’ Briefing. Once again, Michael Newbill, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur joined us to provide updates from the U.S. side. Additionally, we had Mark Krischer, Principal Wireless Architect, Cisco Asia-Pacific, Japan and Greater China, provide a special presentation on WLAN 6GHz.

The Health Ministry today encourages the people living in high contact and mobility settings to conduct regular COVID-19 testings. As the country prepares for the reopening interstate borders once the vaccination rate involving the adult population who have been fully inoculated reachers 90 per cent.

A total of 44,797,925 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Malaysia as of Tuesday (Oct 5). A total of people 24,085,144 (or 94.5% of the adult population) have received their first dose while 20,819,254 (or 88.4% of the adult population) had both doses.

IBM and Politeknik Balik Pulau (PBU) is in collaboration to establish the IBM SkillsBuild@PBU Learning Institute, a first of its kind for IBM in Malaysia which is expected to benefit nearly 800 students at PBU annually. It would also serve the need for industry-relevant high-value talent in the Northern Corridor of Malaysia, especially Penang.

Western Digital’s factory in Batu Kawan, Penang has made it to the community of world-leading companies that have succeeded in the adaptation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) at scale. For that, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has recognised and awarded the Western Digital factory as the first entrant from Malaysia to its Global Lighthouse Network (GLN).

Worldwide, according to the Global Infrastructure Outlook, more than $2 trillion of transport infrastructure investments will be needed each year until 2040 to fuel economic development. Rapid urbanization, surging demand for freight services, and not to mention the COVID-19 response stimulus plans in many countries are putting pressure on stakeholders to step up the pace of infrastructure development.