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Amphenol to invest RM30mil more in Penang PDF Print E-mail

By Derrick Vinesh, The Star

September 2, 2010

 

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Amphenol TCS (M) Sdn Bhd will invest about RM30mil in Penang over the next two years to produce two top-speed connector models.

President and chief executive officer Richard Adam Norwitt said the amount was in addition to its recent RM18mil investment for a third plant in the state.

richard adam norwitt

Richard Adam Norwit ...`We are proud of our Penang team.’

“The two high-density modular connector platforms, Xcede and Ventura, are among the leading products across the entire company worldwide that took us nearly half a decade to design and construct.

“We are proud of our Penang team for being able to transfer the production of these products to Malaysia in such a short time,” he said after Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng opened the company’s third plant in Bukit Minyak Industrial Park here yesterday.

Amphenol’s XCede and Ventura connector platforms are designed to enable future data rate requirements of datacom, telecom, storage and wireless equipment.

Norwitt said Amphenol TCS had invested close to RM100mil over the past eight years in Penang via two manufacturing plants in Bukit Tengah Industrial Park and Bukit Minyak Industrial Park

He said Amphenol TCS was a division of US-based Amphenol Corp, the world’s second-largest connector company, producing electronic and fibre-optic connectors, cable and interconnect systems.

Norwitt said the company chose Penang because of its talented workforce, reliable logistics hub, competent supply-chain management and good governance.

Amphenol TCS regional plant manager Lee Teong Li said the company would add 300 employees, mainly technical specialists and engineers, by 2012, in addition to its present 700 employees in Penang.

He said the company would consider building a fourth factory in the next three years on a 10,800-sq-m land located next to its third facility.

Lim said he hoped Amphenol would invest in a research and design centre in Penang to help solve system design challenges with its integrated interconnect solutions.

He said the state government wanted to emphasise on high-technology, high-value-added, capital-intensive and knowledge-based industries to set up their bases in Penang.