Economic Development in Malaysia

In the early 1970s, the peaceful padi fields of Banyan Baru in Penang were on the verge of being overtaken by a technological storm which would transform the economy of a state in decline.

Penang saw its future in technology rather than trading and agriculture, and decided to entice foreign companies to set up offshore manufacturing facilities in Malaysia’s first free industrial zone.

While most of Asia was still in the high-tech Dark Ages, Penang managed to attract landmark investments from seven then-rising IT stars—Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), National Semiconductor, Hewlett-Packard, Clarion, Litronix and Robert Bosch.

In the decades since, hundreds of IT companies including Dell, Sony, NEC, Acer, Siemens, Seagate, Agilent and Solectron have set up shop on the "Silicon Island".

Here to read more.