Eppendorf picks Batu Kawan: RM180mil plant is its first factory in Southeast Asia

Eppendorf SE, the German life-science equipment group, has signed a lease agreement with the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) for a greenfield manufacturing site at Bandar Cassia Technology Park (BCTP) in Batu Kawan — the company’s first factory in Southeast Asia. The agreement was signed at Komtar on 28 July 2026 by Eppendorf Group CEO Dr Christine Munz and PDC CEO Datuk Abdul Latiff Abdul Aziz, witnessed by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, InvestPenang CEO Datuk Seri Loo Lee Lian and representatives from MIDA.

Who is Eppendorf?

Founded in 1945 and headquartered in Hamburg,Germany. Eppendorf makes the everyday hardware of research and diagnostic laboratories — pipettes, centrifuges, mixers, thermal cyclers and bioprocess systems — with about 4,100 employees across some 30 countries. The company is not new to Malaysia: its Southeast Asian regional hub has operated out of Kuala Lumpur since 1995. Penang is where it now moves from selling in the region to making in the region.

What is being built

• A greenfield plant at Bandar Cassia Technology Park with an investment of about €40 million (≈RM180 million)
• It will produce selected products from Eppendorf’s centrifuges and instruments portfolio — centrifuges, mixers and thermal cyclers
• Output is for export to the United States and Europe
• Production ramps up progressively from 2028, with around 130 jobs by end-2029 and more as operations expand

“The geopolitical stability here and the existing supplier base make Penang the perfect location for our future growth,” Dr Munz said at the signing, calling the plant “a further clear and confident commitment to the country, its people and its industrial capabilities.”

The lease details

EdgeProp.my, with written confirmation from InvestPenang, filled in the property specifics in September:

• Eppendorf is leasing approximately 11.82 acres — Plot 340A along Jalan Teknologi 3 — from PDC for 60 years. The lease consideration was not disclosed.
• The planned facility has an estimated built-up area of about 172,200 sq ft (16,000 sq m), comprising manufacturing, warehousing, offices and supporting areas. Consultants and contractors are still being appointed.
• Construction is expected to begin in Q4 2026, ahead of the gradual production start in 2028.
• The plot is being developed with room for a second phase — additional production and warehousing capacity plus more office space, if required.
• Eppendorf is targeting LEED Gold certification, with a sustainable architectural concept and energy-efficient building systems.
• Sourcing will initially combine local, regional and global suppliers, with the intention of raising local and regional sourcing over time as the supplier base evolves — and the company says it wants collaborations with local institutions beyond supplier development.

Worth noting for anyone watching how Penang deals its industrial land: the structure is a 60-year ground lease, not a sale — PDC keeps ownership of the land and leases sites to incoming manufacturers, the same state-landlord model that runs through Batu Kawan.

Why Bandar Cassia Technology Park?

BCTP is PDC’s newest technology park, sitting on the seaward edge of Batu Kawan right at the landing of the Second Penang Bridge (Jambatan Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah) — directly across from the established Batu Kawan Industrial Park (BKIP), and minutes from IKEA, Design Village, the UOW Malaysia campus and Batu Kawan Stadium. PDC’s site plan pins Eppendorf to Plot 340A, on the park’s eastern side fronting Jalan Teknologi 3 — alongside plots earmarked for MKS Instruments and Plexus Manufacturing (the leased plot is outlined in red on the site map above).

For a company shipping precision instruments to the US and Europe, the location logic is straightforward: bridge-to-port connectivity, a deep bench of precision-engineering suppliers across the water in Bayan Lepas and around BKIP, and land assembled by a single state landlord.

What it means for Penang industrial property

This is the clearest signal yet that Batu Kawan’s next chapter is life sciences and medical technology, not just E&E. Chief Minister Chow put numbers on the sector at the ceremony: Penang has approved RM2.3 billion of manufacturing investment in scientific and measuring equipment between 2021 and Q1 2026 — nearly 20% of Malaysia’s total — across 40 projects and close to 4,500 jobs. Between 2021 and 2025 the state exported RM187 billion of professional and scientific instruments, about 72% of Malaysia’s exports in the category.

• Supplier demand comes next. Chow openly invited Eppendorf to work with local companies through the Penang ATE Campus on localisation and supplier development — that is where demand for smaller factory units and land around Batu Kawan typically follows an anchor investment.
• The export-platform play is now explicit. A German manufacturer naming “geopolitical stability” as the site-selection reason, with output bound for the US and Europe, is the China-plus-one thesis landing in Penang — and it strengthens the case for holding industrial land near the bridge.
• It compounds with Penang Medi-City. The state expects laboratory technology and scientific instrumentation to grow alongside healthcare services — Eppendorf anchors that supply chain on the manufacturing side.