Malaysia's AI ambition needs more engineers: IME, SOLIDWORKS CEO and TVETMARA move to close the engineering capacity gap

Malaysia has set national targets for artificial intelligence and semiconductors. The engineers needed to deliver them are in short supply. Today, IME addressed both sides of that problem: it brought the CEO of SOLIDWORKS, Mr Manish Kumar, onto a panel with national AI, industry and manufacturing leaders to discuss how AI can raise what each engineer can deliver, and it signed a Letter of Intent with TVETMARA Balik Pulau to prepare more engineers to enter industry.

The gap behind the targets

The National Semiconductor Strategy sets a target of 60,000 high-skilled semiconductor engineers, backed by RM25 billion in fiscal support. Malaysia already accounts for about 13% of global back-end semiconductor assembly, test and packaging. The National AI Action Plan 2026–2030 names talent as one of its pillars, and NIMP 2030 targets 3,000 smart factories by 2030, against 74 recognised as of 31 May 2026 according to public reporting. Every one of these targets depends on the same people: engineers.

“Malaysia does not only have an AI challenge or a talent challenge. It has a capacity challenge. The national targets for AI, smart factories and semiconductors all land on engineers. There are two ways to close the gap: train more engineers, and make each engineer more productive. Malaysia needs both, and IME is working on both.”  — Mr Teoh Jia Yuan, Chief Executive Officer, IME Holdings Sdn Bhd

Selangor: AI that raises each engineer’s output

Mr Manish Kumar, SOLIDWORKS Chief Executive Officer and Vice President, R&D at Dassault Systèmes, headlined IME SOLIDWORKS Innovation Day 2027 at the KLGCC Convention Centre. He joined the panel “Industrial AI: Turning Malaysia’s Industrial Knowledge into Competitive Advantage”, alongside Dr KK Yong, Principal Researcher at MIMOS Berhad and chair of MOSTI’s High Performance Computing Technical Working Group, David Khor, an IEC expert member, and Ts Shahrizal Omar, Technical Director of MKA Group. The panel was moderated by Lau Chee Wei, Chief Commercial Officer of IME Holdings.

“Industrial AI can help Malaysia address its engineering capacity gap by enabling engineers to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time applying their expertise to design, problem-solving and innovation. By embedding AI into the engineering process, we can help organisations prepare for the next generation of engineers for a more AI-enabled industry,” said William Lee, Sales Director, Customer Role Experience Asia Pacific South, Dassault Systèmes.

The panel discussed what separates industrial AI from generic AI when a decision has to be right rather than merely plausible, how companies can capture engineering knowledge before it leaves with retiring engineers, and what needs to happen for Malaysia to meet its smart factory target.

TVETMARA Balik Pulau: building the pipeline

On the same day, IME and TVETMARA Balik Pulau signed a Letter of Intent to explore cooperation in areas including preparing students for the Certified SolidWorks Associate (CSWA) qualification, internship placements with IME and its affiliated companies, technical sharing sessions and forums for students and faculty, and the establishment of an Industrialmanship Program at TVETMARA Balik Pulau to give students exposure to industry through technical talks and seminars.

TVETMARA Balik Pulau is part of the TVETMARA network of 25 MARA technical and vocational institutions, which was brought under a single brand on 27 January 2026. Its campus is in Penang, the state at the centre of Malaysia’s semiconductor and electrical and electronics industry.

Penang, 13 October: a different panel for the semiconductor supply chain

The conversation moves to Penang on 13 October at the Setia SPICE Convention Centre, where the panel carries the same title, Industrial AI: Turning Malaysia’s Industrial Knowledge into Competitive Advantage, with a question aimed at the local semiconductor supply chain as its subtitle: “Orders are there. Engineers aren’t. Can AI close the gap?” Penang’s electrical and electronics sector comprises more than 1,000 companies and employs more than 200,000 people, according to Penang Institute. The panel will ask what AI is changing in chips, packaging and equipment and what that opens up for Penang suppliers; where local suppliers are winning or falling short and how AI helps teams deliver faster; and what the first practical step is. Each panellist will close with one 30- or 90-day action. The IME SOLIDWORKS Innovation Day roadshow then continues to Johor on 15 October and finally Sarawak on 20 October.

The panellists are David Khor, IEC expert member and a chip-manufacturing veteran of more than 30 years; Sean Manzanares of COSMON, which builds AI agents for mechanical engineers; and Dato’ Dr Hari Narayanan, Chief Executive Officer of the Penang Skills Development Centre. The moderator is Chuah Tun Chong of IME Technology.

Event at a glance

Selangor
Date: Thursday, 8 October 2026, 08:30–16:30 (held)
Venue: KLGCC Convention Centre
Panel: Industrial AI: Turning Malaysia’s Industrial Knowledge into Competitive Advantage, with Mr Manish Kumar
Also on the day: IME and TVETMARA Balik Pulau Letter of Intent signed
Register: Event held

Penang
Date: Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Venue: Setia SPICE Convention Centre
Panel: Industrial AI: Industrial AI: Turning Malaysia’s Industrial Knowledge into Competitive Advantage
Also on the day: Keynote, panel and SOLIDWORKS 2027 sessions
Register: Registration URL

This content is provided by IME Technology Sdn. Bhd.

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