PENANG, 24 March 2022 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has formed a collaboration with SilTerra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to deepen academic and research engagement involving a range of areas in microelectronics technologies.

The areas of collaboration include talent development through sponsored internship programme, skill-based training, seminars, workshops and development of joint-curriculum.

The collaboration also includes pursuing and executing consultation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects as well as provide students industrial training or staff industrial attachment.

The agreement was signed here yesterday where USM was represented by its Vice- Chancellor, Professor Dato’ Dr. Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan while SilTerra was represented by its Executive Chairman, Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir.

Also present from USM were the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation, Professor Dato’ Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed; Dean of Institute of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Dr. Azlan Abdul Aziz; and Director of Industry Network, Division of Industry & Community Network, Dr. Shaizatulaqma Kamalul Ariffin.

Faisal Rafiq said, “On behalf of USM, we are very grateful to have SilTerra for almost two decades of collaboration and today, the collaboration is further strengthened with research and talent development.”

He added that USM has always been enthusiastic about forging partnerships with SilTerra, not only in activities relating to coaching and talent development, research and consultancy projects and co-supervision but also in inventions and innovations, assisted by the mission of the innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and technologies.

Besides USM, SilTerra also signed an MoU with Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) and a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) at the same ceremony, to establish similar cooperation tailored to the needs of the semiconductor industry ecosystem in Malaysia.

According to Syed Zainal Abidin, who is also the Group Managing Director of Dagang NeXchange Berhad (DNeX), “SilTerra’s partnership with USM, UTeM and UniMAP is aimed at nurturing local talents via our in-house expertise from SilTerra.”

“This reflects our continued commitment to position Malaysia as one of the biggest suppliers of semiconductor components in the world, thus creating a pool of local talents for the industry’s demand.

“The partnership will also pledge industrial development comprising research and design capabilities with our partners to inculcate local students with the right training foundation, equipping local talents with cutting-edge technological advancement familiarisation and practical knowledge,” he said.

USM's collaboration with SilTerra has spanned more than two decades; more recently in 2006, USM became one of the seven universities in Microelectronic Design consortium that signed the Cooperation Programme Agreement (CPA) with SilTerra for the Multi-Project Silicon Wafer Verification Programme, which is known as Multi-Project-Wafer (MPW) coordinated by the USM Collaborative Electronics Design Excellence Centre (CEDEC).

Text: Tan Ewe Hoe/Photo: Mohd Fairus Md Isa