Published May 5, 2009

US MNCs plan outsourcing hubs

	Email this article
	Print article
	Feedback

(KUALA LUMPUR) Two US-based multinational corporations (MNCs) will be setting up their business process outsourcing (BPO) and shared services centres in the RM100 million (S$42 million) SunTech Tower in Bayan Baru soon, says a report in a Malaysian newspaper.

Citing a source, StarBiz said the two companies were hard-disk maker Seagate and National Instruments, which develops and makes software and hardware that engineers and scientists use for test, control and embedded design applications.

The centres for both companies will each occupy a floor space of over 20,000 square feet. 'Renovation works on both centres have been completed. They are expected to begin operations either in May or June,' the paper quoted the source as saying. The centres are expected to provide support for their respective group's worldwide operations.

The 23-storey SunTech Tower, completed in mid-2008, is an MSC-compliant building with an estimated gross office space of over 200,000 sq ft. National Instruments' decision to set up the centre is in line with the company's plan to establish a research and development (R&D) and manufacturing facility on a 6ha site in Penang. The R&D and manufacturing facility is expected to generate some 1,500 jobs.

Seagate's centre in Penang should further consolidate the group's presence in Malaysia, as it already has a plant on the island which manufactures read and write heads for hard-disk drives and another plant in Johor involved in assembly works.

In a recent report titled Exploring Global Frontiers, KPMG said Penang could become a centre favoured by BPO players. It said Malaysia's proximity to large labour pools, major client bases and multiple language skills could help Penang or any of the other 31 spots nominated by KPMG to become potential alternatives to established Indian cities.

The report said the credit crisis had resulted in a new rush for outsourcing services and that a number of new locations were emerging as viable BPO hubs.

Penang's strength as a BPO hub has attracted MNCs such as Intel, Dell, Motorola, Citicorp and IBM to set up IT-BPO centres in Penang. Software Consortium chairman Jeffrey Lim said software companies had developed a niche market by supplying BPO solutions for medical billings system, Web hosting, business match-making, education and digital audio and visual content.