SMD Semiconductor’s vision is to build an “Integrated Silicon Longhouse” in Sarawak: a semiconductor ecosystem that combines international expertise with local talent and grows from IC design and training into commercial chip products. Its roadmap is ambitious, but the public evidence points to a company moving from capability-building toward commercialization—not yet to a proven high-volume chip business.
What does SMD Semiconductor’s vision mean?
Sarawak Microelectronics Design (SMD) Semiconductor Sdn Bhd is a Sarawak-based fabless chip-design company incorporated in 2022, according to the company’s homepage. SMD describes its vision as “To build the Integrated Silicon Longhouse in Sarawak, synergising global expertise and local talent to drive advanced semiconductor innovation and shared progress.” Its stated promise is “Transforming Sarawak into the silicon nerve centre of Asia.”
The “Integrated Silicon Longhouse” is a metaphor for connecting the parts of a semiconductor industry that a region needs to develop: engineering and design, talent, research and development, industry relationships, and eventually commercial products. It does not mean that SMD is already operating a complete semiconductor manufacturing chain. SMD presents itself as fabless, so its core activity is chip design rather than owning and operating a high-volume wafer fabrication plant.
The company says it aims to help Sarawak become a regional solutions provider by 2030. Its planned ecosystem at the Samajaya High Tech Zone covers 4.1 hectares, according to SMD’s official homepage, and is intended to bring together R&D, innovation, collaboration and partnerships.
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How is the Sarawak Semiconductor Roadmap 2030 structured?
SMD’s roadmap links chip-design capability to a broader regional industry. An EE Times feature published in 2024 described four focus areas in the company’s five-year plan:
- Design and development: Use existing intellectual property (IP) to design and develop chips.
- Applications and services: Apply existing IP to create turnkey products and services for customers.
- Innovation: Develop new IP and business cases rather than relying only on existing designs.
- New technology ventures: Build ventures around assets and infrastructure, particularly compound semiconductors and a clean room with silicon-carbide capabilities.
The sequence matters: design expertise and reusable IP can support customer applications, while new IP and infrastructure can open up more technically demanding markets. The roadmap therefore combines a design-services model with an ambition to develop products, technologies and physical capabilities in Sarawak.
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SMD also says it wants to become a leading industry player while developing talent as an employer and adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. Its official quality policy emphasizes customer requirements, technological excellence, high standards and a culture of quality.
What does SMD Semiconductor make?
SMD describes itself as a fabless analogue and mixed-signal IC design house. Its public materials list integrated-chip design, embedded hardware and sensor solutions, edge intelligence and RISC-V technology. Its products-and-services page also identifies custom low-power processors, heterogeneous integration of silicon and compound semiconductors, edge-AI applications and power-management ICs.
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These categories indicate the kinds of design work and applications SMD is pursuing; they do not establish that every item is a shipping product. In March 2025, SMD announced that it had demonstrated an Ultra Edge Power Converter prototype at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The announcement connected the product concept to rising AI-related data-centre demand and grid-energy management. A prototype demonstration is evidence of development progress, not proof of commercial shipments or production scale.
How is Sarawak building the people and partnerships behind the plan?
The roadmap depends on building a local engineering workforce as well as securing industry partners and infrastructure. EE Times reported in 2024 that SMD had grown from three engineers in 2022 to 30 at the time of its feature, and that the company planned to reach 50 by the end of 2024. That target is historical; the cited report does not establish whether it was met.
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The same EE Times feature put the wider Malaysian workforce challenge at a need for 50,000 skilled semiconductor engineers while universities produced about 5,000 engineers annually. These are figures reported by EE Times in 2024, not independently audited current statistics.
SMD’s talent initiatives include the SMD Chip Design Centre, SMD Academy, Semiconductor Mastery Programme, IC-design training with CENTEXS and other collaborators, and recurring make-a-thons. Its roadmap PDF records agreements with Melexis in 2022, work with Melexis and X-FAB in 2023, training and academy launches in 2024, and an expansion into a UK R&D innovation hub in 2025. In March 2025, SMD also announced that it had become Silicon Catalyst’s 14th strategic partner.
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What has happened so far, and what remains a target?
The dated milestones distinguish announced ambition from demonstrated execution. The latest progress report in the cited material is a DayakDaily article published on May 19, 2026.
| Milestone or measure | What the public record says | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Company formation and early team | SMD says it was incorporated in 2022; EE Times reported three engineers at launch in 2022. | Establishes the company’s starting point, not its current headcount. |
| Workforce reported in 2024 | EE Times said the team had reached 30 and had a target of 50 by the end of 2024. | The target is not confirmation that the team reached 50. |
| Commercial ambition | EE Times reported SMD’s aim of a RM10 billion valuation by 2030 and its aspiration to be among Southeast Asia’s top five IC design companies. | These are company goals reported by EE Times in 2024, not achieved or independently verified outcomes. |
| Product demonstration | SMD announced an Ultra Edge Power Converter prototype demonstration at Mobile World Congress Barcelona in 2025. | Shows a prototype was demonstrated; the announcement does not establish sales or volume production. |
| Roadmap phase transition | DayakDaily reported on May 19, 2026, that SMD had completed Phase 1 of the Semiconductor Roadmap 2030 and entered Phase 2, focused on global chip commercialization. | This is the clearest dated indication of a shift from capability-building toward product deployment. |
| Partner search and production route | The May 2026 DayakDaily report said CEO Shariman Jamil was seeking global product partners to embed SMD chips in power inverters and solar panels, and identified X-FAB as the local foundry used for chip production. | Signals a route toward deployment, but does not name customers or establish shipment dates or production volumes. |
When will SMD chips reach commercial products?
The available public information does not establish a shipment date. The May 2026 DayakDaily report says SMD had entered a commercialization-focused second phase and was seeking product partners for power inverters and solar panels. That is meaningful progress beyond a general roadmap announcement, but it does not confirm that a named customer has adopted a chip or that commercial products are shipping.
For a reader assessing progress, the key next evidence would be a named product or customer, a disclosed production or shipment milestone, or company reporting on commercial deployment. Until then, distinguish between the stated goal of commercialization, prototype demonstrations and verified products in the market.
How to judge the strategy
SMD’s plan spans more than chip design alone: it connects analogue and mixed-signal design, power management, edge AI, RISC-V, compound-semiconductor ambitions, workforce development and physical infrastructure. That breadth may help form a regional ecosystem, but each part has a different maturity level. When comparing SMD with another semiconductor initiative, useful questions are:
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- Scope: Is the organization providing design services, developing its own products, or both?
- Technology: Which capabilities are established, and which are aspirations or prototypes?
- Execution: Are there concrete talent programmes, foundry relationships and facilities to support the plan?
- Commercial maturity: Is the evidence a roadmap, a prototype, a customer commitment, or a deployed product?
Applied to SMD, the public record documents company goals, training and partnership activity, a prototype demonstration, and a 2026 move into a commercialization-focused phase. It does not establish production volumes, customer names, revenue, certification status or shipment dates. The RM10 billion valuation goal, top-five aspiration and wider ecosystem ambitions should therefore be read as targets, not results.
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