KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Selangor state, Malaysia's primary economic engine, is eyeing a strengthened position as a regional investment and business hub with the Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS) 2026, which kicked off here on Wednesday.
The summit brings together investors, industry leaders, government representatives, and the wider business community from Malaysia, the ASEAN region, and beyond, and serves as a premier platform connecting regional and global brands, innovators, investors, and industry players to explore business and investment opportunities, the state's investment promotion agency Invest Selangor said in a statement.
Running from Oct. 14 to 17 under the theme "Selangor, the Gateway to ASEAN", the summit features 526 booths, targets 50,000 visitors and 8 billion ringgit (about 1.9 billion U.S. dollars) in potential transaction value, and brings together 110 hosted delegates and 188 speakers across nine specialized conference programs.
The summit also witnessed the presentation of several letters of intent (LOIs) from foreign investors, namely Shenghui Biotechnology (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Galaxy Data Centre, XTC New Energy and Wuxi Weifu Environmental Catalysts Co. Ltd., facilitated by UOB Malaysia to Invest Selangor.
These LOIs facilitate investments exceeding 3 billion ringgit and reflect the investors' strong interest in exploring business and growth opportunities in Selangor.
Selangor State Chief Minister Amirudin Shari said in his remarks at the opening ceremony that the state is moving beyond low-cost manufacturing towards innovation, advanced technology and higher-value industries. "For decades, developing Asia accepted a comfortable role: the factory floor of the world, the low-cost assembler, the sweatshop of the global supply chain, low wages. That era has served its purpose, but it can no longer define our destiny," he said.
He noted that Selangor's priorities included advanced automation, life sciences, green technology and digital infrastructure, with semiconductors offering significant opportunities to move up the global value chain.
While Malaysia has established strengths in semiconductor packaging and testing, Selangor is pursuing higher-value segments such as integrated circuit design, electronic design automation and intellectual property creation, he added. ■