In my opinion , Penang is my Silicon Island of the East ( Heck, even Singapore and Taiwan are fighting for that title) because there are many MNC (Multi National Company) that had established here specialized in hi-technology in R&D areas, manufacturings, logistic and also provides many jobs for locals as well as from other states. \ (^.^) /~yay . However, there are a few big top gun company that maybe miss their chance to establish here in Bayan Lepas during the peak golden era in 70's .
Here is my personal list of the MNC , not necessarily in the electronics industry
( randomly arranged not according to ranking or whatever)
(1) Nokia
Type : Telecommunications
Why ?
Yes, there is Motorola existed here already, what harm does it bring to bring one more competitors in same field that is Nokia. Asia region is one of the top regions where the cellphone penetrations is almost peaked. Hence, to fill in the demand on the cellphone , there should at least some R&D base here because Nokia brand is good in producing high end smart phone but it's price is still out of reach for some.(Edit: Recent lowering the price is still out of reach for many middle class family.) By establishing a company here, they will get a more clearer pictures about the features that consumers in this SEA regions wanted in their cellphones.
(2) Acer
Type : Computing Technology
Why ?
Acer brand is one of the most recognized computing brand due to its competitive pricing. Beside, just as Dell, we can dedicate R&D center on Bayan Lepas because around there are nearby university that produce engineering top minds such as from Universiti Sains Malaysia ( USM ) and also Universiti Malaysia Perlis ( UniMAP ) to meet the workforce demand. And why not to include some test lab here to test the ruggedness and rigorousness of the PC which is considered more cheaper to established here compared in Japan.
(3) Nestle
Type : Nutrition/ Bio-technology / Confectionery Industry
Why ?
Penang ( or any other place in Malaysia ) are particularly diverse in ethnic diversity so that if you want to survey and develop through food clinical trial , you can also gather the data result from different many kinds of ethnics races found in Malaysia which is part of Malaysia identity. Malaysia is free from any food contamination incidents so far until now which has plagued the China recently, so in terms of safety , Penang is the most suitable choice to establish manufacturing plants
.
(4) Google
Type : Search Engine / Advertising
Why ?
Google is my favourite search engine. I love it more than Bing ;) However, except for a small establishment in Singapore, there are no strong presence of Google in South East Asia region yet. And also the ads using AdSense is also not quite targeted to our local regions consumers.Google recent pulling out from China could mean good news as our Malaysia Goverment is practicing open connection to Internet without restriction. With their establishment here , maybe the Google AdSense is making more sense and more targeted to local consumers because most of the current ads are just get rich quick (a.k.a Ponzi scheme) with almost no real SME companies advertising.
(5) Nortel Networks
Type : Networking, Communication
Why ?
Malaysia (especially Penang and Malacca ) is the briskest trading hub in the 17th-18th century thanks to British Colonist. However in 21st century as well, telecommunications also played a major part in developing economy and connect us to outside world. Penang is blessed because it is the gateway to Straits of Malacca (Connected from India in the West and China to the East) and hence it can dedicate itself to manufacture optic fibre and laying them in S.E.A regions and extensive R&D to provide faster connection speed and produces more rugged cables. ;)
(6) Novell
Type : Datacenter , Security , End Computing
Why ?
Malaysia is lacking a true data-center ( a.k.a SuperComputer that crunch data up to petaflops ). As the "cloud applications" is the buzz word in technosphere, more and more services, applications are integrated in Web2.0 .Recently the Jaring i splanning a nationwide data-grid with collaboration from Perak and Sabah government as well as USM. Well with Novell expertise in this area , they can build collaboration with USM to set up a true data-center which might make a significant progress to scientific communities in Malaysia.
(7)
Type: Computer security
Why ?
Kaspersky AV is one of the top line of AV product in recent time, hence to combat the threat of rising case of locally programmed kiddie scripts, malware such as Brontok, Neo.vr, Faizal.js,... , the Kaspersky could establish honeypots servers especially in the academics centers (KDU, USM,Inti) where there are bound to have swarms of the virus legions try to infect the computers. Also they can tap the local hacker talents which can produce a better AV to better prepared in combating localized malware threat which cant be detected by using conventional means.
(8)
Type: Gaming Industries
Why ?
Their massively popular MMORPG , World of Warcraft has garnered as much as 10 M of players globally. Although there are some game servers here hosted by Sendi Mutiara, what we need to have is a subsidiary company here which let us create the content for WoW, host the BattleNet account . The LimKokWing students are top notch designer, (seen from my few of my friends design), maybe they will create uber items based on localities flavour. Durian Launcer , anyone ?
(9)
Type: Design/Manufacturing sportswear or sport equipment
Why?
:) It is proven that somewhere in future, the cost of manufacturing will not be as cheap in about 8-9 years due to increase demand of salary of the ants worker.Hence , it would be better to move out to countries which had high-tech manufacturing facility such as Malaysia or Singapore. Also , Malaysia is a multi-racial country where there are different ethnics group of body anatomy which makes it a bit easier to design a really ergonomic sportswear for most customers.