Unaffected by US tariffs, Austrian tech giant ramps up AI product output
AT&S microelectronics business unit executive vice-president Ingolf Schroeder said the firm's Kulim plant will be a main contributor to its growth. (Bernama pic)
KULIM : Austrian tech giant AT&S says its operations in Malaysia are unaffected by the US's 'reciprocal' tariffs, as its products do not fall under Washington's targeted trade restrictions.
Ingolf Schroeder, executive vice-president of AT&S's microelectronics business unit, said the company was monitoring the situation closely but that its facility in Malaysia had not been impacted so far.
He said its high-end printed circuits boards and integrated circuits (IC) substrates – critical components used in semiconductors, smartphones, industrial electronics, automotive systems, medical devices, and artificial intelligence hardware – were shipped only to outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies in Taiwan and Malaysia.
'We will continue to ramp up production at our plants in Austria and China as well,' he told reporters at AT&S's Malaysian plant in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park.
AT&S, which operates in Austria, India, China, and Malaysia, is part of the broader supply chain serving US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices Inc, or AMD.
The firm has invested over RM5 billion in its Malaysian site as part of a broader RM8.5 billion Phase 1 development plan involving two production sites, including RM600 million for research and development.
AT&S chose Malaysia in 2021 as the site for its first Southeast Asia facility. In March, AT&S's Kulim facility started the high-volume manufacturing of high-end IC substrates.
The serial production of AT&S's cutting-edge IC substrates caters almost exclusively to AMD, particularly for incorporation into high-performance and energy-efficient data centre processors.
Schroeder said the Kulim plant would be a main contributor to the company's growth, helping the Austrian firm achieve its ambition of becoming one of the world's top three IC substrate suppliers in the coming years.
'Our Kulim operations started with only one customer, AMD, but we hope to expand our clientele base to three customers by the financial year of 2026, and then five customers the following year.
'These new potential customers could be chip designers or outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies,' he said, adding that AT&S was focused on long-term growth, especially in producing next-generation AI hardware.
'If you believe AI will be the driving force, there will not be a downturn. The products we manufacture here are top-tier, robust and resilient. There is competition, but very few can produce these next-gen products because of their complexity.'
Schroeder said the company was also adapting its supply chain strategy to support its Malaysian operations, with a push to grow local content.
Currently, many raw materials are sourced from outside Malaysia, but he said AT&S was working to localise suppliers, especially for critical chemicals to strengthen its operational flexibility.
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