KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s economic strategy must expand beyond attracting data centres to actively building large-cap listed technology champions if it hopes to secure major global portfolio investments.
Speaking at The Invest Shariah 2026 conference, Principal Asset Management Bhd Chief Executive Officer Munirah Khairuddin warned that the country’s small-cap domestic tech sector leaves Malaysia severely underrepresented in global equity benchmarks.
“We are doing well in semiconductors, but can these companies have a bigger market capitalisation?” Munirah said. “We need to nurture larger listed technology firms capable of carrying greater weight in global equity indices.”
Co-hosted by Bursa Malaysia and CGS International Securities Malaysia, the conference focused on ethical investing in a volatile digital landscape.
The Index Weighting Disparity
Citing regional benchmark data, Munirah highlighted the stark contrast between regional tech representation and Malaysia’s domestic index:
| Index | Information Technology Weight |
| MSCI AC Asia Pacific Islamic Index | 51.1% |
| Malaysia FBM EMAS Shariah Index | ~1.0% |
Because institutional global capital heavily tracks major indices, Malaysia’s negligible 1% tech weighting creates an automatic structural barrier to foreign inflows.
To overcome this, Munirah called for strategic co-investments where domestic firms lead major projects, eventually spinning them off into high-value standalone initial public offerings (IPOs).
“Global capital invests in growth companies and looks directly at the index,” she noted. “One or two technology IPOs are not significant enough.”
Emulating East Asian Tech Ecosystems
Munirah urged Malaysia to study how Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan cultivated world-leading semiconductor ecosystems. She highlighted that South Korea and Taiwan’s combined technology weighting in regional indices exceeds China’s, despite China’s far larger economic footprint.
“We are in a competitive position in ASEAN,” Munirah stated. “Why don’t we do more of that?”
The Structural Blueprint: Cloud, AI, and Demographics
Beyond equity scaling, Munirah outlined three structural pillars dictating future portfolio allocation:
- Cloud Infrastructure as Table Stakes: Enterprise cloud migration is the non-negotiable prerequisite for AI deployment. Without a solid digital foundation, Malaysian firms cannot harness AI effectively.
- AI-Driven Healthcare: With Malaysia set to become an aged society by 2030, AI-driven biotechnology, life sciences, and healthcare represent urgent growth sectors.
- Modernized Supply Chains: E-commerce growth demands upgraded logistics, including automated robotics, smart warehouses, and cold-chain facilities.
While Malaysia’s semiconductor heritage and data centre boom provide a strong foundation, Munirah concluded that raising operational standards, modernizing industries, and training top talent remain critical to winning global capital.
