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Investments influx to promote sustainable and high-end packaging operations continue to surge, putting Malaysia into the map as ideal production center. One example is the FE Green PET, a subsidiary of Taiwan’s Far Eastern New Century Group (FENC), which has secured RM150 million (US$35.5 million) in green and sustainability-linked financing for its recycled PET (rPET) resin production plant in Melaka, Malaysia. The plant is designed to produce 50,000 metric tons of food-grade rPET yearly from post-consumer plastic materials in support of Malaysia’s green transition, sustainable thrust and low-carbon development. The “bottle-to-bottle” system will support the packaging requirements of some of FE Green PET’s global clients, among them leading beverage brands.
Another company, Colorcon, opened its new film coating manufacturing facility in Johor, Malaysia. The plant aims to serve as a major production hub for Colorcon’s operations in the Asia-Pacific market, providing film coating systems, speciality excipients, controlled release formulations, and controlled atmosphere packaging for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.
Malaysia has a booming electronics sector with semiconductor production being an integral part of the industrial ecosystem. Major players in this industry look at Malaysia as the ideal location for their electronics packaging operations. For example, Azure, a Chinese lithium battery and light-emitting diode chip supplier, announced to invest US$83.9 million to build an LED chip packaging factory in Malaysia to meet the demand of overseas customers and alleviate the impact of international trade and tariff. The plan will focus on LED chip testing, sorting, and chip-scale packaging, with a monthly production capacity of 700 million units. Azure has also integrated its backlight chips, including its mini LEDs, into the supply chains of international clients.
Another important player is Intel which announced earlier its plan to consolidate its overseas chip packaging operations in Costa Rica with its facilities located in Vietnam and Malaysia. The company announced a US$208 million investment into Malaysia to expand its chip packaging in the wake of soaring demand. The investment will boost Intel’s packaging and testing operations in Malaysia to further expand Intel’s presence in the country.
The manufacturing of medical devices and supplies stands out as a robust sector in the Asia-Pacific region, with Malaysia successfully attracting numerous international companies to establish production operations in the country. As a growing hub for medical manufacturing, Malaysia's reputation is drawing in even more new entrants into this field, thereby increasing the demand for high-performance materials and advanced manufacturing technologies.
Healthcare packaging is an area of the packaging industry that has been seeing tremendous growth. OAmcor, one of the key industry players, has completed construction of its coating facility in Selangor, Malaysia. The facility expands Amcor’s existing healthcare packaging operations in the country and offers advantages to its local and regional clients. The plant features advanced systems, such as water-based coatings and online inspection technologies to support growing demand for sterile packaging. Another example is Oliver Healthcare Packaging (Oliver), a leading healthcare company driving quality and innovation in medical packaging, which opened its 120,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Johor, Malaysia. Located within the i-Tech Valley in Iskandar Puteri, the facility joins a growing number of companies in Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone and will serve Oliver’s growing customer base across Asia-Pacific. The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and ISO13845, ISO-7 and ISO-8 cleanrooms, for the production of medical grade packaging, such as pouches, lids and roll stock.
Rosti Group also operates a plastic injection molding plant in Malaysia. The site has achieved ISO13485 certification allowing medical device manufacturing. Rosti Group occupies a facility with 5,000 square meters, which aside from injection molding, printing, assembly, process development, tooling and supply chain management, has enabled Rosti Malaysia to strengthen its expertise in the production of complex products, such as the 15-minute COVID-19 saliva test.
Automotive Industry Gears Towards Electrification
The automotive industry in Malaysia is becoming an attractive base for producers of electric vehicles (EVs) owing to the country’s incentives and excellent infrastructure. Proton Malaysia, its homegrown brand, has begun the operations of its first assembly plant exclusive for EV production at Proton Tanjung Malim, Perak in the country. Aside from producing the country’s first EVs, the plan aims to start assembly of the Proton e.MAS 7, followed by the e.MAS 5. The facility features advanced automation with highly skilled operators and has an annual capacity of 20,000 units, scalable up to 45,000 units The company is supported by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in terms of technology transfer, local talent development and strategic investments.
XPENG, a Chinese electrified-vehicle company, will start assembling EVs with local auto parts supplier EP Manufacturing Bhd in Malaysia by March 2026. The collaboration, with mass production set to begin this year, marks the third project of XPENG globally and the second one in the Asia-Pacific region. Through its partnership with EP Manufacturing Bhd, XPENG will leverage on its extensive local manufacturing expertise, proven production capacity, and deep market knowledge to produce advanced intelligent EVs tailored to the consumer needs in ASEAN.
Audi is also beefing up its production of the second-generation Q7 SUV at the DRB-Hicom manufacturing plant in Malaysia. This is Audi’s firstly fully-localized assembly project in Southeast Asia and has marked Audi’s return to vehicle manufacturing in Malaysia since the 1990s. The Q7 is a mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV), demonstrating the facility’s ability to handle electrified vehicle technologies, such as battery systems and hybrid integration.
At CHINAPLAS 2026, one of the world’s leading plastics and rubber trade fair, over 4,900 exhibitors will showcase innovative technologies, cutting-edge solutions and green materials to serve the needs of Malaysia’s high-end manufacturing industries.
On April 21 to 24, 2026, the industry’s acclaimed trade fair - CHINAPLAS 2026 will take place at National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) in Hongqiao, Shanghai, PR China. This edition is expected to bring together more than 4,900 exhibitors and over 320,000 visitors from around the world, providing exceptional opportunities to delve into breakthroughs in intelligent innovations, to build valuable connections and to explore a forward-looking vision of the plastics and rubber industries.
Pre-registration for CHINAPLAS 2026 has begun. Click HERE to pre-register for an admission ticket at USD 7.5. Visitors will receive an eConfirmation letter (Hong Kong/Taiwan/Macau region of China and overseas visitors) upon completion of pre-registration.
Besides the show days, the exhibition also enables buyers to connect with thousands of materials and machines suppliers all year round via CPS+ eMarketplace, a smart, efficient, integrated, and sustainable online sourcing platform which is complementary to the physical show of CHINAPLAS.
For more information, please visit: www.ChinaplasOnline.com.