NEGERI SEMBILAN UNVEILS US$20 BLN NILAI PHOTONIC AI MANUFACTURING CITY

SEREMBAN, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- Negeri Sembilan has announced the development of the Nilai Advanced Photonic AI Manufacturing City, the first large-scale photonic computing and semiconductor initiative of its kind in the world.

In a statement today, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun said the project is being realised through a collaboration between the Hosein Family Office (USA) and the Gan Family Office (Malaysia).

Mehamood Hosein, founder of deep-tech Hosein Family Office, is leading the initiative with more than 30 years of global experience in real-time temporal systems, advanced semiconductor innovation, and photonic computing. The Gan Family Office is contributing 1214.06 hectares (3,000 acres), according to the statement.

Aminuddin said the project, planned at a scale of about US$20 billion over the next five years, is expected to deliver major benefits.

“This includes 40,000 high-paying skilled jobs, 20,000 indirect jobs across supporting industries and a total of 60,000 long-term employment opportunities,” Aminuddin said in the statement.

“The development will include photonic chipset integration facilities, glass interposer and waveguide factories, AI compute system assembly lines, a national real-time AI and digital twin research centre, a deep-tech engineering and technology training academy and an integrated township to support industry and workforce growth,” he said.

Aminuddin said the Nilai Advanced Photonic AI Manufacturing City will introduce breakthrough photonic computing, where data moves through light instead of electricity.

“This enables dramatically higher speeds, lower heat, and far greater energy efficiency, allowing Malaysia to leapfrog traditional electrical semiconductor manufacturing,” he said.

He said photonic architecture is widely regarded as the next platform for semiconductor technology, providing the performance, scale, and efficiency required to support advanced AI, national digital infrastructure, and next-generation industrial systems.

Aminuddin said this positions Malaysia among the first nations to build the semiconductor platform of the future and the first large-scale photonic semiconductor manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia.

-- BERNAMA