US companies agree to invest RM16.52bil in Malaysia, says Azmin after trade mission

KUALA LUMPUR: Several US companies have agreed to invest RM16.52bil in Malaysia by the third quarter of this year, says Senior Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister announced this following a successful trade and investment mission to the US.

“We hope that all these commitments to investments can be finalised in the third quarter of this year, creating employment opportunities for the locals,” he said at a press conference on the Trade and Investment Promotion Mission to the United States on Saturday (May 21).

Among the US companies were Insulet, Ferrotec, Amazon Web Services Inc (AWS) and Cue Health.

This, Azmin added, did not include additional investment projects by Texas Instruments and Boston Scientific who are already based in the country.

He said that the mission aimed to secure investment for the semiconductor industry, digital economy and medical devices in line with the National Investment Aspirations.

Azmin’s 10-day mission to the US came in the wake of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s trip to the US to meet with Asean leaders and US president Joe Biden.

Azmin said that the investments will also see technology transfers, including the involvement of local industries and their supply chains.

Meanwhile, Azmin noted that despite the global challenges and uncertainties posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, trade between the US and Malaysia grew last year.

“Trade between the two countries increased by 21.4% year-on-year to RM217.1bil in 2021,” he added.

Currently, he said that the US was Malaysia’s largest global trade partner and export destination, while the country was the 17th largest trade partner for the US.

He noted that there is still a total RM1.44bil in export potential to the US market.