Malaysian VC to invest in local semiconductor startups
Malaysia's Blue Chip Venture Capital has raised a fund worth $209m and says it will allocate a portion of the cash to outstanding local firms.
Lai Pin Yong, co-founder and chairman of Blue Chip VC, told Nikkei Asia that Malaysia is well positioned to develop its semiconductor industry, though its VC ecosystem is relatively underdeveloped at the moment. The article stated that the country raised USD 110 million of VC money last year, which is only 1% of Southeast Asia's total.
Blue Chip VC is trying to remedy this with plans to invest some of its USD 209 million fund in "at least 10 companies," focusing on integrated circuit design and advanced packaging.
"We have about $200 million for now. It is a small fund. But in order to transform the whole industry, we need more VCs, more big guys to participate. For me, Blue Chip VC can kick off the initiative as a start so that many people will join," he told Nikkei.
Blue Chip was co-founded by Lai, a former Intel executive, and Chief Executive Tim Chen, previously of AT&T Labs, Microsoft and Motorola.
