PENANG is firmly banking on the resilience of the various industries where talent development is concerned amid the ongoing tariff negotiations between Malaysia and the United States of America.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow particularly highlighted that although the tariff issue could potentially have an indirect impact on employment, he reaffirmed that it should not hinder or stop the progress of talent development in the country, especially Penang, a state that has a resilient industrial ecosystem.
“The outcome or impact can only be thoroughly assessed based on how resilient our industries respond to the tariff once the negotiations have been finalised and when we finally have a conclusion.
“Most companies are still hiring, and it is premature to say anything now, unless and until we have a conclusion from the ongoing negotiations,” Chow said after officiating the Penang Career Discovery Day at St Giles Wembley Hotel in George Town today.
It was organised by InvestPenang and supported by Penang GBS Focus Group (GFG), as part of the Penang Silicon Design @5km+ initiative.
The event featured sharing sessions by industry leaders and more than 20 career booths by companies from the IC design-related and Global Business Services (GBS) sectors.
Approximately 400 participants were present, including industry players in the GBS and IC Design fields, as well as students from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC), and others.
Separately, Chow also launched the Penang GBS Industry Academy (PGIA) 2.0, a forward-looking initiative aimed at developing next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) talent to accelerate innovation, support industry growth, and drive digital transformation.
This collective effort will see the participation of several key state agencies, including InvestPenang as the project lead, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) as the catalytic funder, PSDC as the lead training delivery partner, and Penang GBS Focus Group, which provides valuable industry feedback on module design and content relevance.
“The programme is designed with three core objectives, and they are to train and upskill AI talents, bridge the AI talent gap, and advance Malaysia’s digital economy.
“Our target is to train 500 GenAI-ready talents by 2026, and this will be done in two phases,” Chow added.
PGIA 2.0 is one of several pillars under the state’s larger development roadmap, which is the Penang Strategy for Economic Ecosystem Development (Penang SEED).
It was introduced in 2023 under the Penang2030 vision.
On another matter, InvestPenang chief executive officer Datuk Loo Lee Lian, in her response to a question by a reporter on any update regarding the Federal Government’s negotiations with its US counterparts on tariff, she said talks were still ongoing and no conclusion was made yet.
However, Loo expressed optimism that some form of pathway can be created to give a clearer understanding of the progress of the talks.
Also present earlier was Bukit Tambun assemblyman Goh Choon Aik.
Story by Kevin Vimal
Pix by Siew Chia En
Video by Law Suun Ting