Vietnam
The MTA Vietnam metalworking exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City was a success. It filled two exhibition halls, making it very attractive for gaining market insight. About 30 AMT member companies participated in the show, represented by their distribution partners or with a direct booth. The exhibition left the overall impression that the market has lots of potential moving forward.
Malaysia
Amcor announced a $21 million investment in Selangor, Malaysia, to expand its existing health care packaging plant. The facility is Asia’s first to use air knife coating technology for health care packaging, incorporating water-based coating systems and online inspection for precision and efficiency.
National Aerospace Fasteners Corp. (NAFCO) of Tainan, Taiwan, has made significant investments in Malaysia to expand its aerospace and automotive fastener production. In October 2023, NAFCO approved a project to establish a new manufacturing facility near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The facility was officially inaugurated on April 15, 2025, with further investment forthcoming totaling $40 million. This expansion aligns with Malaysia’s growing aerospace sector, which saw $350 million in approved investments in 2024. It supports the country’s goal to capture 5% of the global maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) market by 2030. NAFCO’s facility supplies major aerospace engine manufacturers such as GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, and the Safran Group.
Aircraft Propeller Service has made a $1 million investment in Malaysia, establishing its first Asia-Pacific MRO facility near Kuala Lumpur. The facility is strategically positioned to serve the Asia-Pacific region, the world’s largest turboprop aircraft market, accounting for 37% of the global ATR fleet. The company also plans to expand its service offerings in India to tap into another growing turboprop market.
Ferrotec Holdings broke ground on its second high-tech manufacturing facility in Kulim, Kedah, on April 22, 2025, with a planned investment of $226 million. This factory will produce insulated heat-dissipating substrates for power semiconductors and purchase over 700 CNC machine tools for its smart production lines. The facility will incorporate Industry 4.0 technologies, including IoT-enabled systems and predictive maintenance, which rely on advanced machine tools for high-accuracy production.
Watlow Electric Manufacturing Co., a global leader in industrial thermal solutions, significantly expanded its capacity to meet the growing demand for smart, sustainable thermal systems in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2025, a state-of-the-art facility will be inaugurated in Malaysia's Kulim Hi-Tech Park, representing a $44 million investment. The facility will produce high-performance thermal solutions, including advanced heaters and insulators, and serve industries such as semiconductors, aerospace, automotive electronics, and clean energy.
Thailand
In 2025, Thailand approved a significant investment of approximately $1 billion from China's Sunwoda Electronic to establish electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage system battery cell manufacturing facilities in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor. This marks Sunwoda’s first EV-related battery cell factory in the ASEAN region. Sunwoda, a major global battery manufacturer, ranked 10th worldwide in 2024 with 18.8 GWh of installed EV batteries
Infineon broke ground in January 2025 for a new semiconductor backend production site near Bangkok. The investment will be $48 million. This highly automated fab is crucial for meeting the growing demand for power modules, especially driven by global decarbonization and climate protection efforts. Opportunities for AMT members include: automated material handling systems, robotics, vision inspection systems, automated test equipment, and cleaning systems.
Covestro will invest $5 million in Thailand's Eastern Seaboard region to expand production capacity for polycarbonate specialty films.
Indonesia
Prominent Turkish defense contractor Turkish Roketsan will invest $30 million in its collaborations with partners in Indonesia in 2025, particularly in missile technology and production.
Ormat Technologies has significant investment plans in Indonesia, particularly within the geothermal sector, extending through 2025 and beyond. In February 2025, Ormat announced the successful commencement of commercial operations for the Ijen geothermal power plant, which will produce 35 MW, in East Java, Indonesia. This project is a joint venture with PT Medco Power Indonesia, with Ormat holding a 49% equity share (equivalent to 17 MW). This is the first geothermal plant in East Java and is part of a larger 110 MW project with a 30-year power purchase agreement. This project signifies a key step in Ormat's strategy to expand its presence in Indonesia and support the country's goal of adding 7.2 GW of geothermal capacity by 2035.
For more information, please contact Mike Lauer at mlauer@AMTonline.org, and to learn how to take advantage of these opportunities, click here.
