23/05/2025

FRIDAY | MAY 23, 2025

14

BIZ & FINANCE

Asean Summit could unlock hundreds of billions in FDI, trade for Malaysia: Juwai IQI KUALA LUMPUR: The Asean Summit will be a platform to integrate regional economies and promote trade through potential agreements with an estimated RM300 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the next five years, according to Juwai IQI. Its co-founder and group CEO Kashif Ansari said in a statement yesterday that it is important for Asean member countries to work together as the region faces a complicated world, with global strategic rivalries, new technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI) disruptions. “The summit could boost Malaysia’s economy through regional integration, Asean unity in global trade, and foreign direct investment. Changes in these three areas could mean hundreds of billions of ringgit in additional trade and capital over the coming years. “The Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) is a prime example of integration, which could contribute as much as RM110.9 billion to Malaysia’s economy annually by 2030,” he said. Kashif said a tighter-knit Asean could boost Malaysia’s total trade volume significantly, to about RM3.87 trillion by 2027; exports could reach an all-time high of RM2.13 trillion in annual export volume by 2030. “While the agreements coming out of the summit could have us shipping more goods out by 2030, we will also be receiving more inbound FDI, with that money going into local innovation, infrastructure, employment, and property.” In the property sector, based on IQI’s analysis, FDI inflows during this period will generate at least RM15 billion in new real estate activities, which include industrial parks, commercial centres, logistics hubs, and housing develop ments, said Kashif “With RM300 billion of FDI projected by 2030, we estimate RM15 billion, or 5%, will be channelled into the real estate industry. “We have estimated this 5% ratio between FDI and real estate based on typical patterns seen across the region. The real number could be lower, or much higher,” he said. – Bernama Malaysian Armed Forces LANGKAWI: AirAsia has formalised a charter service contract with the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) worth RM99.5 million, including special aircraft leasing until Aug 1, 2027, which encompasses daily charters and special charter arrangements covering domestic routes throughout Malaysia. In a statement released in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace 2025 yesterday, AirAsia said this service highlights AirAsia’s commitment to leveraging its vast domestic network and high frequency flights to provide reliable and efficient transportation solutions for the MAF. “AirAsia will facilitate the movement of MAF personnel using commercial flights from Monday to Friday for duty and welfare travel in tandem with AirAsia’s existing commercial flight schedule, ensuring seamless integration while maintaining passenger convenience. “Additionally, there will be a special charter arrangement involving the exclusive rental of the entire aircraft, dedicated solely to MAF personnel, without mixing with commercial passengers,” it said. In addition to air travel, the contract includes comprehensive services such as in-flight meals, luggage handling, and logistical support from the airport to military camps, both ways, to ensure the comfort and well-being of MAF personnel during their movements. – Bernama AirAsia formalises RM99.5m charter service deal with

MaiStorage Technology targets IPO in 2028

Ű BY HAYATUN RAZAK sunbiz@thesundaily.com

o Phison’s newly launched subsidiary to use proceeds to build R&D centre, support expansion and retain talent

PUTRAJAYA: Phison Electronics Cor poration’s newly launched subsidiary MaiStorage Technology Sdn Bhd is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) in 2028 to support expansion and to retain talent. Founder and group CEO Datuk Pua Khein Seng said the capital it raises from the IPO will also be used to build the company’s own research and development (R&D) centre. “We are currently renting an office from the Selangor state government, which can accommodate about 200 to 250 people. As we continue to grow, we’ll need to secure land and construct a custom-built R&D facility. That’s what the IPO capital will mainly fund,” he said at a press conference after the official launch of MaiStorage Technology by Prime

design engineers, not factory operators. “So how do we retain engineers? The only way is through an IPO. That’s what I’ve learned from Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park, as well as from Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing,” Pua said. “That’s why we’ve launched a three-year programme to take MaiStorage public on the Malaysian stock exchange by 2028.” However, Pua said the business operates with internal capital from “cash rich” Phison and is not dependent on external fundraising for growth. “By the end of CQ1, overall the company, our investment was RM100 million. Now the net value is over RM100 million. So we earn like around RM4 million already.” Furthermore, the company aims to position Malaysia as a technology hub in Asia. “We have a partner from Thailand coming in to work with us on licensing and transferring our AI technology to Thailand. Every government wants on-premises AI. Cloud is good, but it’s expensive and compromises data privacy,” Pua said. He added that there is also a knowledge gap. “We brought in the technology, trained the trainers here, and now they are building their own ecosystem to train students and IT managers.” Pua sees this training-and-ecosystem model as a replicable export. “This model will first be exported to Thailand, and hopefully, we can expand it to the Middle East as well.” MaiStorage is an IC design and storage technology provider that caters to the data centre, AI applications and the automotive industries in Malaysia. It offers SSD solutions and aiDAPTIV+ AI LLM training and fine tuning platform on-premises to enhance performance, security, and AI-driven inno vations for customers. CEO Datuk Idham Nawawi said, “We are pleased to report an encouraging start to 2025, with our first quarter performance delivering growth in revenue, Ebit, and PAT. This reflects the continued strength of our core business and disciplined execution of our strategic priorities. “We are progressing well in creating pathways for sustained profitable growth through four strategic focus areas – solidifying market leadership, enhancing customer experience, driving operational excellence, and investing for the future. Our prioritisation on customer and operational excellence continues to underpin our performance, supported by ongoing investments in enhancing our network infrastructure, tech nology platform capabilities, and talent bench strength, alongside disciplined cost manage ment. “With these efforts, we are well-positioned to deliver long-term value to our customers and stakeholders, and to compete effectively in a dynamic and competitive market.”

Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday. MaiStorage plans to build and expand its integrated circuit (IC) design team focused on NAND flash controller chip design – a critical component of modern storage and com puting systems. Pua said since starting operations in August 2024, the Phison-backed company has trained 60 local IC design engineers and is on track to train 175 by 2026. “We are working very closely with TalentCorp to train another 150 engineers over the next three years,” he added. He stressed that these are real, capable IC

Pua speaking at the launch of MaiStorage Technology.

CelcomDigi declares 3.7 sen dividend on resilient Q1 results PETALING JAYA: CelcomDigi Bhd delivered resilient results for the first quarter of financial year 2025 (Q1’25) with growth in revenue and profit after tax (PAT) while its core business stabilised. retail, with intensified efforts in driving customer and operational excellence across the organisation. these integration initiatives, the company remains on track to deliver steady-state annualised cost savings of around RM700 million to RM800 million post-2027.

CelcomDigi’s network integration and modernisation reached about 80% com pletion as of end-March 2025, with six states completed. The company continued to ramp up IT consolidation activities, with 28 out of over 50 systems integrated to date, with a target of achieving approximately 75% of systems integrated by year end. This will enable seamless, personalised digital experiences at scale for its customers, and will strengthen the company’s customer positioning. CelcomDigi’s retail transformation con tinued to advance, with over 50 new digital concept stores launched to date, resulting in higher sales productivity and enhanced customer engagements. CelcomDigi is now embarking on the next phase of transforming more than 300 exclusive partner stores. Upon completion, the company will form one of Malaysia’s largest branded retail chains of digital products distribution, well-positioned to support Malaysians’ evolving digital life styles. As a flow-through of cost efficiencies from

This achievement, CelcomDigi said in a statement yesterday, sets the company in the right direction for sustained profitable growth as the nation’s largest mobile network operator. Total revenue grew 1.2% year-on-year (y-o y) to RM3.209 billion, while earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) registered growth of 21.3% y-o-y to RM696 million, and PAT improved 4.6% y-o-y to RM388 million as a result of prudent cost management in trimming operational expenditure and lower depreciation and amortisation. Adjusted for non-recurring items (severance packages in Q1’24 and rights-of-use impairments in Q4’24), Ebit would have been RM758 million, while PAT was at RM434 million. The company declared a first interim dividend of 3.7 sen per share, in line with its sustainable dividend commitment to share holders. Integration and transformation initiatives progressed as planned across network, IT and