Name: Malaysia’s chip industry seeks alternatives amid U.S. tariffs
Uploaded: 2025-04-25T03:08:59.872Z
Duration: 2 min 18 s
Description: Malaysia’s rapidly growing technology sector is bracing for disruption after the United States imposed tariffs exceeding 20% on chip exports. The levies have sent shockwaves through Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, which has become a major global player in the supply chain.

Malaysia’s rapidly growing technology sector is bracing for disruption after the United States imposed tariffs exceeding 20% on chip exports. The levies have sent shockwaves through Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, which has become a major global player in the supply chain.

Kuala Lumpur

Donald Trump has signed an order to impose tariffs imports into the U.S. from countries including China, Mexico and Canada.

Global Tariffs

Malaysia is exploring alternatives for its technology sector in response to proposed U.S. tariffs on semiconductor chips. Malaysia, a significant player in the semiconductor industry, supplying 20% of chips imported into the United States, has communicated with Washington about potential negative impacts on American industries that depend on these imports. The high-tech industry, characterized by global supply chains, may face widespread repercussions if the tariffs are enforced.

Beginning in the 1970s, Malaysia emerged as a key manufacturing hub for semiconductors in Asia, collaborating with U.S. companies for over five decades. The country has navigated various economic cycles and aided in the expansion of American enterprises throughout the region. With tariffs posing a threat to Malaysia's and other Southeast Asian countries' export sectors, Malaysia is leading discussions on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to address these challenges.

Certain ASEAN members, like Malaysia and Vietnam, are particularly vulnerable to U.S. tariffs, prompting nations to consider strengthening trade relations with other global partners, notably China. Amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States, China appears to be realigning its economic strategies in Southeast Asia. Despite the pressures, ASEAN countries continue to prioritize long-term diplomatic relationships while preparing to diversify their markets if U.S. trade barriers persist.



Malaysia’s chip industry seeks alternatives amid U.S. tariffs

Starting in the early 1970s, Malaysia was one of the first manufacturing centres in Asia for semiconductors. The high-tech sector has become so interconnected globally with complicated supply chains that imposing tariffs on any part of it, Malaysia believes, will have repercussions for every country, including the US. US companies have been in Malaysia for the last 50 years, and they have grown leaps and bounds since 1972. And through all the recession, the upturns and downturns and everything, we have gone through the whole process. Not only that, we have helped the US companies to expand in the whole region. Accounting for 20% of all semiconductor chips imported into the US, Malaysia's mission is to explain to Washington how trade taxes of 24% would harm the American industries which use them. With its current chairmanship of the regional organisation ASEAN, Malaysia has gone to Washington representing not only itself, but also its Southeast Asian neighbours. Some of those less developed states are not so dependent on the US market, but others, like Malaysia, have been rapidly building their export sectors, putting them directly in the tariff firing line. That includes Vietnam, which is facing a punishing 46% levy on its exports to the US. A powerful incentive to forge closer ties with China, which seems to be the ultimate target in Donald Trump's trade war. President Xi Jinping's recent trip through Southeast Asia showed how Beijing is looking to restructure its trade links to compensate for possible exclusion from the US. It's important for smaller countries around Asia, particularly in ASEAN, not to take sides, but then also to be cordial and friendly and to rely upon the long-term relationships and to say we should be looking at the long-term relationship building on that, not this short-term turbulence. If the US levies remain in place, Malaysia seems ready to look for new markets, while hoping that a lifting of the tariff threat will permit a return to its export business as usual. Rob McBride, Al Jazeera, Kuala Lumpur.

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Rise of AI

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

As tensions rise with Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said land operations could start "pretty soon." Sources tell CBS News the administration is also planning more tanker seizures.

Washington

Trump says Venezuela land operations could begin 'pretty soon'

One day after capturing an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, the U.S. has sanctioned three of Nicolas Maduro's nephews, along with six other oil tankers.

Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro with new sanctions

The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated.

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honor.

Caracas

Nobel peace laureate Machado vows to take award home to Venezuela

Japanese authorities are assessing damage after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, followed by multiple aftershocks. In response, officials have issued a warning about the possibility of a megaquake, defined as a magnitude 8.0 or higher event.

Tokyo

Japan alerts citizens about possible megaquake

A Maryland judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and was later detained for potential deportation to another country.

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

About 500,000 people are fleeing renewed clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border. Over a dozen were killed as fighting shatters a US-Malaysia-brokered peace deal amid a decades-old temple land dispute.

Samraong

Half a million flee as Thailand-Cambodia border clashes escalate

The U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.

Trump confirms seizing of Venezuelan oil tanker

The U.S. House has approved a bill to end all Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, sparking cautious optimism in Damascus as the measure moves closer to becoming law.

U.S. House votes to lift Caesar Act sanctions on Syria

Myanmar's military bombs a hospital in western Rakhine state, at least 31 people are killed and dozens injured.

Rakhine

Air strike in Myanmar killed at least 31 people, dozens injured

The U.S. military seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the ship had been used to violate sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Iran.

U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast

The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother's behalf in Oslo, Norway. Machado, who lives in hiding in Venezuela, is set to make an address on Thursday.

Oslo

Venezuela's Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize in absentia

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is commenting on potential elections in Ukraine under certain conditions. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst joins CBS News with more on the war against Russia.

Kyiv

Zelenskyy prepared to hold elections after Trump questions motive

A renewed outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has derailed a US-brokered peace agreement, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes.

Bangkok

Border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia flares up again

U.S. immigration agents used pepper spray against protesters in Minneapolis on Tuesday as residents blocked the officers’ vehicles and forced them to leave the area.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis protests erupt over ICE operation targeting Somalis

In Australia, millions of kids' social media profiles are going dark, as the country's new social media ban takes effect for anyone under 16. Jo Ling Kent reports.

Canberra

Australia's social media ban takes effect for kids under 16

President Trump, in recent months, has dismissed concerns about affordability, but this evening, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, he is focusing on the crisis and touting his administration's efforts to lower the cost of living. Nancy Cordes has more.

Pennsylvania

Trump tries to flip the script on affordability

Dozens of protesters blocked a highway near Tel Aviv to demonstrate against moves by the Israeli government to force some ultra-Orthodox Jews into mandatory military service, something they are currently exempt from so they can study the Torah full time.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Bill over ultra-Orthodox military conscription sparks protests in Israel

President Trump has told Politico that Nicolas Maduro's "days are numbered" in Venezuela. Political strategists Kevin Sheridan and Hyma Moore join with analysis.

Trump says Maduro’s “days are numbered”

The FBI has released a new photo of former Olympian Ryan Wedding, whom the bureau’s director has described as a “modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar.” The ex-skier and snowboarder remains at large as agents continue their search.

FBI releases new photo of alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Pope Leo XIV and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Tuesday (December 9), meanwhile voicing his refusal to surrender territory to Moscow despite pressure from Washington for territorial concessions.

Rome

Zelenskyy seeks backing from Pope Leo XIV, Italian PM Meloni

A federal judge said Tuesday (December 9) that the Department of Justice can unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case records. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has more details.

Judge says DOJ can unseal Ghislaine Maxwell trafficking case records

Prosecutors on Monday (December 8) released new evidence seized from Luigi Mangione on the day of his arrest. He is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago and has pleaded not guilty.

Manhattan

New evidence introduced in Luigi Mangione case

The EU antitrust enforcer has opened an investigation into the U.S. tech giant over its use of online content to power its AI services, a move that threatens to ratchet up transatlantic relations.

Brussels

EU Commission opens probe into Google over AI

The U.S. government said the approval, which comes in exchange for a 25% surcharge, would also be available to other chipmakers like Intel and AMD.

Trump gives Nvidia green light to sell H200 chips to China

Ukraine is set to present a revised peace plan to the United States on Tuesday following President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s talks in London with the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain.

London

Ukraine to share revised peace plan with U.S., Zelenskiy says

The International Criminal Court Tuesday handed down a sentence of 20 years to a Sudanese militia leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country's civil war two decades ago.

See The Full Story

Global Tariffs