Business

Thursday April 9, 2009

PMC investing RM1.3bil in new HQ


KUALA LUMPUR: Nasdaq-listed PMC Sierra Inc is planning an initial investment of RM1.3bil over the next few years to move its operational headquarters to Malaysia from the current base in San Jose, California.

Vice-president Ian Banks told reporters here yesterday at a joint press briefing with the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida) that the Internet infrastructure company would start operations in the country as early as year-end.

The Malaysian headquarters will be set up in Kuala Lumpur or Penang, he added.

“We chose to set up the operational headquarters here because of proximity to our customers as 70% of our revenue comes from Asia,” Banks said.

He added that the lower cost of doing business and the financial incentives provided by the Government were the other reasons why PMC was attracted to Malaysia.

Datuk Jalilah Baba presenting a souvenir to Ian Banks

According to Mida director-general Datuk Jalilah Baba, PMC’s move to set up its operational headquaters in this country will bring benefits in terms of outsourced jobs and technology transfer.

“There’ll be many jobs created indirectly from this investment while business opportunities will increase three- to four-fold due to outsourcing activities,” she said.

There would be an increase in outsourcing jobs in areas such as manufacturing, finance and human resource services as well as the eventual transfer of technology, Jalilah reckoned.

Banks said 50 jobs would be created initially and this would grow over time as the business took off.

PMC was targeting US$400mil to US$460mil in revenue over the next two years from the intellectual property business and supply chain management activities, he said.

It reported a net profit of US$13.7mil from a revenue of US$120.8mil for the fourth quarter ended Dec 28, 2008.

On a full-year basis, PMC reported a net profit of US$133.9mil on revenue of US$525.1mil.

According to its website, the company has offices in North America, Europe, Israel and Asia.

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