Chips, Compute & Semiconductors
ไทยแพ้แล้ว มาเลเซียผลิตชิป AI เอง ไม่ง้อต่างชาติ
Summary
Malaysia launched MARS1000, its first AI chip designed entirely in-country, on a 7nm process.
Thailand by contrast imports every chip. Plants here assemble components; they do not design.
The argument is that Thailand has comparable potential and lacks the vision and nerve to begin.
Key points
Design and assembly are different value layers
Most of the value sits in design. Assembly is the layer most easily relocated.
7nm is not an entry-level process
Designing at that node requires people and tooling accumulated over years.
You do not need a fab to design a chip
The fabless model lets a country without foundries enter the design layer — an opening Thailand has not taken.
Five years is the horizon the talk warns about
Without starting now, the relationship becomes permanently buyer to seller.