SkyeChip bets on AI boom to drive move into high-end IC design

KUALA LUMPUR: SkyeChip Bhd aims to move up the value chain with the onset of an artificial intelligence (AI) supercycle, through the back‑end excellence the group has built over the last 50 years and matching it with front‑end integrated circuit (IC) design capability.
Non-independent executive director and CEO Datuk Fong Swee Kiang said that for the past 50 years, global semiconductor multinational corporations (MNCs) anchored in Malaysia have trained generations of engineers in cutting-edge IC Design.
“We need to design, not just assembly and test manufacturing. SkyeChip was started because we had the ‘Malaysia Advantage.’
“That talent base is what makes today possible. This AI supercycle has created new demand for silicon intellectual property (IP) and silicon products,” he said during the group’s prospectus launch yesterday.
He said SkyeChip has built a portfolio of high‑performance interface IP that competes at the leading edge, covering HBM and LPDDR memory interfaces, and its die‑to‑die UCIe interconnect IP, network on chip IP, and silicon products along edge AI applications, alongside qualified access to advanced‑node foundry technology and custom ASIC development capabilities, an advantage only held by a handful of IC design companies in the region.
“Today, we have evolved into a globally recognised IC design company with operations in Malaysia and Vietnam, serving customers across Asia-Pacific and North America.
“Our role model is Broadcom — a company that has built global scale by combining cutting‑edge silicon IP with custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) solutions.
“We supply the silicon IP, the design expertise and the building blocks.
“Our customers supply the application, whether for data centres, AI and agentic AI‑driven platforms, humanoid robots, or autonomous vehicles,” Fong said.
SkyeChip, a Penang-based IC design company specialising in silicon IP and custom ASIC solutions, has launched its prospectus in conjunction with its initial public offering (IPO), ahead of its scheduled listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia on May 20.
The IPO comprises a public issue of 400 million shares at RM0.88 per share.
Notably, the IPO involves only the issuance of new shares, with no offer for sale of existing shares by current shareholders, and all proceeds raised will accrue entirely to the group.
The IPO is expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately RM352 million.
Of the proceeds, approximately 60% will be channelled into research and development activities for the group’s proprietary silicon IP portfolio and silicon products serving applications such as artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, data centres, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Approximately 16% will be directed towards expanding the group’s operational facilities, computing infrastructure, and labs, while approximately 10% will be used to subscribe to advanced electronic design automation (EDA) and development software tools essential to the group’s IC design operations.
The remainder will be used for working capital and to defray fees and expenses relating to the IPO.
Maybank Investment Bank Bhd is the principal adviser, lead bookrunner, joint bookrunner, managing underwriter and joint underwriter for this IPO exercise, while CIMB Investment Bank Bhd is the joint bookrunner and joint underwriter.