Its chief operations officer Ingolf Schroeder said they looked at various countries in North America, Europe and Asia for the best place to conduct its business.

The company then decided on Malaysia because of the country’s well-established electrical and electronics sector, he said, noting that the sector contributed almost 7% to Malaysia’s gross domestic product.

“Malaysia has an important electrical and electronics supply chain. Customer accessibility is crucial as we will be close to our blue chip clients,” he said at a press conference here.

The groundbreaking ceremony at the Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah will be held on Oct 30. The company will focus on ABF substrates for high-performance processors.

Schroeder said the availability of an educated workforce that could be trained for the electrical and electronics sector was another reason for Malaysia being chosen for its operations.

“Kulim is close to the sea and the airport, with a good road network,” he added, in explaining why the plant would be located there.

More than 6,000 people are expected to be employed, including 1,500 white collar workers. Engineers will be sourced from local universities.

The company’s chief executive officer Andreas Gerstenmayer said besides manufacturing, AT&S would also be focusing on microelectronics research and development by partnering with local universities.

He said through this they hoped to pass on microelectronics know-how to locals.