Penang ATE Campus: 10 acres in Batu Kawan, RM25m from KL

Penang has set aside 10 acres in Batu Kawan Industrial Park, valued at about RM40 million, for a campus for automation, test and equipment (ATE) companies, and on 24 September 2026 the Economy Ministry allocated RM25 million to what it calls the National ATE Campus. The building itself is not yet planned. A dedicated physical campus is phase 2 of the initiative, and InvestPenang says only that phase 2 will "explore" one.

How it got here

• 13 March 2026: the state government allocated 10 acres through the Penang Development Corporation (PDC), valued at about RM40 million, and said it would seek federal support
• 24 April 2026: Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow launched the Penang ATE Campus. Eleven multinationals signed memorandums with InvestPenang for pilot projects and localisation: ams OSRAM, AT&S, B. Braun, TF-AMD Penang, Intel Malaysia, Keysight, Renesas, Sandisk, Smith & Nephew, Texchem and Waferwise. InvestPenang also released a Penang ATE Capability Map and gave the trade ministry a policy white paper
• 24 September 2026: Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir announced RM25 million under the 13th Malaysia Plan at KL20@Penang 2026, for talent development, technology qualification and the joint development and testing of Malaysian-made ATE
• 9 October 2026: the Budget 2027 speech did not mention the campus

Two phases

• Phase 1: shared platforms such as field labs, training programmes and localisation pathways, where local ATE makers and multinationals develop and qualify equipment together. In April the state said funding for the training programmes and shared labs was being explored with the federal government
• Phase 2 (to be explored): a dedicated physical campus modelled on the Brainport Industries Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, bringing qualified suppliers together under shared production and qualification standards
• Not disclosed: which part of Batu Kawan Industrial Park, the building size, its cost or timetable, whether companies would own or rent space, and how the RM25 million will be split

The land

The RM40 million is the state's value for the land it is contributing, not a construction budget. It works out to about RM92 psf, close to the RM85 psf PDC charged for a 60-year lease in Batu Kawan Industrial Park 3 in January 2026.

The industry behind it

• Scale: InvestPenang counts 19 Penang ATE companies and ecosystem partners listed on Bursa Malaysia, worth about RM27 billion in April 2026 with nearly RM5 billion of yearly revenue. Four of them have revenue above RM500 million
• Investment: Penang drew RM25 billion of approved machinery and equipment investment from 2020 to 2025, about 40% of Malaysia's total
• Local firms at the March workshop: 18 local ATE companies, including Pentamaster, ViTrox, Greatech, QES, Aemulus, TT Vision, Mi Technovation and Elsoft

Cover photo: Alissala Thian, Buletin Mutiara.