Dell plans Malaysia tech development centre

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7: Dell Inc., the world's top maker of personal computers, is to set up a technology and development centre in Malaysia, newspapers reported on Sunday.

The decision was made following Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's visit to Dell headquarters in Texas on Friday, where he met Dell's founder and chairman Michael Dell and Chief Executive Kevin Rollins.

Dell picked Malaysia over India, Ireland and the Philippines as a base for the centre, the New Sunday Times said.

The technology centre in Cyberjaya is expected to include a range of high value-added activities including process design and software development, and employ as many as 1,000 people over the next few years.

''Dell's global growth and need for additional development activity, coupled with the success of our Malaysian facilities since 1995, gives us confidence that this new facility will enhance our ability to deliver the industry's best value and customer experience,'' the Bernama news agency quoted Rollins as saying.

The newspapers did not say how much Dell plans to invest in the facility, adding that further details would be finalised later this year.

Malaysia launched its own version of Silicon Valley in 1999 at Cyberjaya, a high-tech city sprawling over 7,000 hectares of former rubber and oil palm plantations. Its tax breaks have lured many global technology firms.

Dell currently employs 4,000 workers at its manufacturing plant in Malaysia's northern state of Penang. The plant opened in 1995.

REUTERS