AT&S picks IJM for RM1.23b Kulim plant in €2b expansion
- AT&S’s Malaysian unit has awarded IJM Construction a RM1.23 billion design-and-build contract for a four-storey production building, a central utility building and a wastewater plant at Kulim Hi-Tech Park, to be built from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the fourth quarter of 2027.
- The work follows AT&S’s June plan to invest €1.5 billion to €2 billion more in Kulim, fitting out its second plant and building a new site for IC substrate cores and advanced PCBs. AT&S says long-term commitments from AMD and another customer fully support the spending.
- The Austrian IC substrate maker opened its Kulim campus, its first in Southeast Asia, in January 2024 on about 200,000 sq m of land. It began high-volume production for AMD in 2025.
AT&S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has awarded IJM Construction a RM1.23 billion design-and-build contract for new manufacturing buildings at its campus in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah. IJM announced the award on 12 October 2026. It follows AT&S's June plan to invest €1.5 billion to €2 billion (about RM7 billion to RM9.3 billion) more in Kulim, backed by long-term commitments from AMD and another leading technology company.
The contract
- Buildings: a four-storey production building, a three-storey central utility building and a single-storey wastewater treatment plant
- Scope: design, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning, including civil and structural works, mechanical and electrical systems, cleanrooms, process utilities and supporting infrastructure. IJM will use precast building components, and the production building is to target LEED Gold green-building certification
- Timing: work starts in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is due to finish within 14 months, in the fourth quarter of 2027
- IJM: the award lifts IJM Construction's order book to about RM10.6 billion. In August it won RM909.5 million of semiconductor and medical-technology projects
AT&S in Kulim
AT&S, based in Leoben, Austria, makes high-end printed circuit boards and IC substrates, the boards that connect chips to the rest of an electronic system. It has about 15,000 staff and plants in Austria, China, India and Malaysia.
- The plan (October 2021): a first phase costing RM8.5 billion (€1.7 billion) on about 200,000 sq m of land in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, about 49 acres (derived). It had about 100,000 sq m of production floor, 2,000 machines and about 6,000 jobs, including 4,500 production workers
- Opening (24 January 2024): its first plant in Southeast Asia. AT&S said it had invested "just over €1 billion" so far, and that almost 2,500 jobs would be in place by the end of 2024
- Production (May 2025): high-volume production began, mainly IC substrates for AMD's data-centre processors. AMD certified the site, which then had about 1,500 staff, and AT&S put its spending to date at about RM5 billion (€1 billion)
- Plant 2: the building shell was already standing, waiting to be fitted out
The expansion
- What: fitting out plant 2, and building a new manufacturing site for IC substrate cores and advanced printed circuit boards
- Money: €1.5 billion to €2 billion, which AT&S says is fully supported and financed by long-term customer commitments from AMD and a second, unnamed customer. The agreements were still subject to final negotiation in August
- Spending: AT&S raised its capital spending plan for the year to March 2027 to €1.0 billion to €1.2 billion, from €400 million. It expects revenue to grow by 45% to 55% at constant currency
- Progress: in April to June 2026, most of its capital spending went into the new Kulim plant, and AT&S said the expansions were "fully on schedule". Group revenue rose to €549 million, and EBITDA more than doubled to €165 million
Cover photo: AT&S.
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