Press Release By Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng On The Occasion Of A Formal Visit To US Robotic Software Technology Leader, National Instruments(NI), Facility In Bayan Lepas Released On 30.9.2013.
First Solar Setting Up Their Shared Services Outsourcing(SSO) Facility In Penang And Not In Kulim, Provides Confidence That Heavy Investment By The Federal Government In Kedah Would Also Ultimately Benefit Penang.
Penang is proud to have the USD 80 million investments by NI, a global market leader of robotic software with annual revenues of USD 1.15 billion. With a headcount of 410 employees that is expected to increase to 1,500 in 10 years time, NI’s new facility here just feels like a carbon copy of NI’s headquarters in Austin Texas, which I visited in 2009.
Malaysia and Penang’s economy has shifted from extraction in the 1960s to industrialisation, from the export of raw commodities to manufacturing. In other words, Penang’s economy was factor-driven by relying on basic commodities before being efficiency-driven by relying on manufacturing. Penang needs to be not only efficiency-driven but also innovation-driven in manufacturing, services and even the public sector.
Penang wishes to learn from NI to upgrade our manufacturing industries and expand to services so that we can move up to the next level. The key to future economic success is not an over-reliance on one sector but to seek convergence of not only the manufacturing sector but also both the services and government sector. Services sector includes not only tourism, medical treatment and education but shared services such as finance, accounting and data processing.