Malaysia Lacks Skilled Talents, Tech Giants Reveal

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Technology heavyweights Nvidia, Infineon Technologies, and Google have all raised concerns about the lack of qualified talent needed to sustain their investments in the country, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Speaking at Invest Malaysia 2024, the Prime Minister revealed that these multinational corporations expressed apprehension over the country's ability to supply the niche expertise required to drive forward automation and technological transformation.

This sentiment was echoed during engagements with executives from Amazon, underlining a growing concern within the industry.

"Talking to Nvidia, Infineon, Google, and tonight Amazon, most of them expressed their concern that while they are proud of the fact that we have [a] disciplined, qualified workforce, we lack that niche at the highest level. And [to achieve] that highest level, the young must be given the opportunity to be trained now," Anwar said, according to The Edge Malaysia.

Malaysia's tech sector is increasingly reliant on graduates from TVET institutions.

Anwar emphasised that the current syllabi are inadequate to produce the specialised talent needed for emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and automation. 

"We cannot go on with the previous syllabus of TVET training. The best is for the private sector [to be involved]. The involvement of the private sector in education, in TVET, in technical training, [and] in AI (artificial intelligence), would be far more efficient than having to run as a normal educational programme," Anwar said.

Inspiration for this approach comes from international models, notably the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi.

Anwar cited Malaysia's own recent strides in this area, pointing to the establishment of the country's first faculty of AI under Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in May. Remarkably, the faculty was launched within just four months of its conception.

These include Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Bursa Malaysia, and established conglomerates.

"We need banks, we need Khazanah, we need established conglomerates to assist so that we can produce qualified, competent graduates in new fields," Anwar added.

As Malaysia looks to cement its place in the global tech ecosystem, the question of how to develop and retain high-level talent remains at the forefront.