ViTrox's 500,000 sq ft Batu Kawan plant to triple capacity

ViTrox Corporation Bhd is building a new five-storey manufacturing plant of 500,000 sq ft in Batu Kawan, Penang. That is more than three times the 150,000 sq ft it uses to make machines today.

Co-founder and managing director Datuk Chu Jenn Weng told The Edge in September that the plant should come on stream in about 15 months. The first two floors may be used before the whole building is finished. He expects it to give the group at least three times its present capacity, with more gains from automation and AI.

Why ViTrox needs the space

ViTrox makes machines that inspect chips and circuit boards, and its factories are full. Revenue for the nine months to 30 September 2026 doubled to RM1.13 billion. Third-quarter revenue was a record RM485.1 million, driven by inspection systems for AI infrastructure and networking equipment, its Bursa filing shows.

Its Batu Kawan campus already has about 924,000 sq ft of space, according to the 2025 annual report. Campus 2.0 was 92.4% in use at the end of 2025, and a further 105,775 sq ft of floor space was due to be renovated and in use by March 2026 to clear bottlenecks.

What the analysts say

• Maybank IB (June 2026): ViTrox was running near maximum output, and a new facility was slated for the second half of 2026
• CIMB Securities (August 2026): named a planned 500,000 sq ft manufacturing facility. As reported by Business Today, CIMB put the investment in the new "Campus 5" in Batu Kawan at RM150 million to RM200 million, with construction from the second half of 2026

ViTrox has not announced a building contract, site or cost for the plant on Bursa. The RM150m–RM200m is CIMB's figure.

The land ViTrox holds

ViTrox's 2025 annual report lists three titles in Batu Kawan Industrial Park, all on 60-year leases:

• PT 5920, 22.2 acres: Campus 2.0 and 3.0 at 746 Persiaran Cassia Selatan 3, bought in 2014
• PT 6145, 13.0 acres, and PT 6141, 8.1 acres: bought from the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) in May 2021 for RM48.3 million. The filing gives the price as RM52 psf, plus a charge for highway frontage

The report lists the 2021 land as vacant at the end of 2025, but part of it carries the ViTrox Institute of Technology (VIT). This is a five-storey, 166,300 sq ft training and research centre, built by South Island Building under a RM46 million contract awarded in July 2024. ViTrox planned to move in by October 2026.

In April, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said ViTrox had applied to PDC for more land in Batu Kawan. The Edge also reported that the group has plans for an innovation park and a bigger education hub, including a possible extra 50-acre site.

None of the filings or interviews says which plot the new plant will stand on.

A busy corner of Penang

The plant adds to a run of large builds in Batu Kawan. UWC has earmarked RM230 million for a 620,696 sq ft factory nearby. ViTrox was also among the 18 local test-equipment makers at the March workshop behind the planned Penang ATE Campus in Batu Kawan.