January 11, 2002 — PENANG — Chip manufacturer Intel Corp. told a local Malaysian paper that it had no intention of closing up its shop in Penang and relocating into China.

Intel VP and GM, Christian Morales told the paper that Intel had invested substantially in its Penang plant and would not be leaving that region. Instead, the company would “make sure that we remain competitive here in Malaysia”, Morales says.

Morales was commenting to a group of reporters asking about recent news reports, which speculated that numerous companies were relocating their semiconductor factories to China as a way to cut labor costs, according to local Malaysian paper The Star.

In 2002, the company plans to continue to work aggressively with local IT vendors this year as well as maintain a close working relationship with the government, other corporations and trade associations to support the domestic PC industry, notes the article.

“IT spending in Malaysia was forecast to grow by 8%-10% this year and reach 15% next year. Regionally, IT spending is expected to grow by 8%-10% this year and 13% next year,” Morales says.