KUALA LUMPUR: US-based DexCom Inc has chosen Batu Kawan Industrial Park in Penang as its third manufacturing site.
DexCom said the new site, its first outside of the US, will help increase the production of its industry-leading continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems.
International International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Al said Dexcom was an excellent example of how global companies were making their decisions based on investment fundamentals.
"Despite the current pandemic, Malaysia remains an attractive investment destination due to its diversified economy and comprehensive ecosystem. These offer companies the potential to realise many business opportunities," said Azmin in a statement today.
Dexcom, he said, would benefit from Malaysia's solid ecosystem backed by strong supporting industries, pragmatic investor-friendly business policies as well as global conformity-assessment bodies that are already present in the country.
"We hope that Dexcom's investment here will be a boost for leaders within the industry and its supply chain network to choose Malaysia as their investment destination," he added.
Azmin said medical device industry showed great promise in generating high-income jobs, building greater export value, and reinforcing the domestic supply chain ecosystem.
"It will be a boon to our industry for new investments to support our local businesses through technology transfer and integrating our local vendors into their global supply chain," he said.
Dexcom's proposed manufacturing facility is expected to create significant job additions over the next 10 years.
This includes roles in manufacturing, facilities management as well as manufacturing related research and development.
Dexcom executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer Quentin Blackford said it had decided on the Batu Kawan Industrial Park over many other sites.
"After vetting numerous potential locations, we determined this site in Malaysia is a great fit for our future manufacturing needs. The growing awareness of Dexcom CGM and our belief in the significant growth opportunity for our technology are driving the need for expanded manufacturing.
"This new site is supplemental to our existing manufacturing facilities and will help Dexcom meet the needs of global demand for CGM for years to come," said Blackford.
With capabilities of producing high value-added and technologically advanced products such as cardiac pacemakers, stents, orthopedic implantable devices, electro-medical, therapeutic and, monitoring devices, Malaysia is well positioned to be the manufacturing hub for medical devices in Asia.
As of 2019, a total of 402 medical devices projects with investments worth RM20.5 billion (US$5.6 billion) have been implemented in Malaysia and created more than 76,500 jobs for the country.
Last year, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority approved 31 medical devices manufacturing projects worth RM3.98 billion (US$970 million).