The group, a Japanese multi-national corporation, also has facilities in China, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines, and is looking to venture into the Indian and Russian markets.
NGC in Malaysia started out as a sales and service centre with four staff in the island six years ago in the island and had decided to expand to include manufacturing
The company manufactures high technology back-end packaging and sorting handlers, test and tape equipment and also carrier tapes which are widely used in light-emitting diode (LED) market.
NGC Japan president Susumo Kubo said the Malaysia plant intends to provide better services to its customers here — which include — Agilent Technologies, Panasonic, Renesas and Osram.
“We decided to set up a facility in Penang because of its status as the ‘LED Island’”, Kubo told reporters after the opening ceremony.
He added that Penang was selected as its preferred choice considering its status as the electrical and electronics industrial area, its pool of skilled workers, and its ability to attract multinational companies.
The Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone is home to many semiconductor manufacturers and hence the status “LED Island”.
Kubo said the Group has more than 500 staff worldwide with revenue of US$40 million (RM127.20 million)-US$150 million a year.
He said the 21,000 square feet plant was sitting on a 35,000 square feet land and was running at two-thirds of its capacity.
“The second floor of our plant is currently vacant, and we are looking into hiring about 10 new staff yearly,” added Kubo.
NGC Malaysia chairman Tan Yew Chee said his target was to contribute about 30 per cent of the Groups revenue beginning next year.
“We are looking at contributing [to the revenue] probably beginning next year after our engineers come back from training in Japan,” he said.