Penang accounted for 64 per cent of Malaysia’s exports of optical, precision, medical and surgical instruments worth RM238 billion between 2021 and mid-2026, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said. The share cements the state’s standing as a regional medical technology (MedTech) hub, with seven of the world’s top 30 MedTech companies now operating here, NST reported.
Investment in the sector is keeping pace. Penang approved RM2.3 billion in MedTech investments across 40 projects from 2021 to the first quarter of 2026, generating nearly 4,500 jobs, according to Bernama. Spread across the projects, that works out to about RM57.5 million and roughly 112 jobs for each approved venture.
The figures were released at the Malaysia Medtech Industry Summit 2026 at G Hotel Gurney on 6 October. Chow said the investments reflected confidence in the state’s industrial base, its engineering talent, its supply chain and its capability in high-precision manufacturing. The approvals, he added, mark the sector’s steady transition towards higher-value manufacturing.
“MedTech is no longer a niche sector here. It is a pillar of our high-value manufacturing ecosystem,” he told the summit.
The seven global MedTech firms in Penang are Abbott, Boston Scientific, B. Braun, Smith+Nephew, STERIS, Dexcom and Intuitive Surgical. More than 20 local MedTech companies also produce Medical Device Authority (MDA)-registered devices, ranging from orthopaedic implants and surgical instruments to wound-care products, dental items, infection-control solutions and medical consumables.
The state aims to double that number to 40 by encouraging small and medium enterprises to move up the value chain and become registered medical-device manufacturers. MDA chief executive Datuk Dr P. Muralitharan and Malaysian Investment Development Authority executive director for manufacturing development Surayu Susah also attended the summit.
Penang’s MedTech push draws on more than five decades of electrical and electronics manufacturing, particularly in precision engineering and automation. The sector builds on the state’s semiconductor and advanced electronics base, Chow said, and those competencies feed directly into surgical instruments, implants and high-accuracy medical devices.
The state government will keep focusing on higher-value activities, including product design, research and development, regulatory capabilities and testing, rather than assembly alone. It will also work with industry players and academia to develop the engineers, technicians and quality specialists the sector needs to grow.
“MedTech is the next chapter of that story, where precision manufacturing serves human health,” he said.
