“Buatan Malaysia” often gets a bad rap even in our own country. But, the truth is, there are many Malaysians out there making some seriously awesome stuff.

In tech, we’re making big strides too especially when it comes to major breakthroughs with one of the largest chipmakers in the world — Intel. Here are five awesome technological advancements Malaysians have made with the chipmaker that you probably didn’t know about.

Intel has put a big emphasis on Asia to help drive its growth in recent years. They established their first facility outside of the United States right here in Penang in 1972. However, as the years went by, Intel nearly shut the facility down in 1991 as the micro-controller business wasn’t profitable back then.

That obviously would have put the engineers that worked there in a tough spot so rather than give up, the engineers proposed that Intel keeps the business running by adding value with design work. Since then, the relatively small team of 30 engineers has now grown to over 2,000 engineers all working under what has become the Malaysia Design Centre (MDC).

This meant that Malaysia was no longer just a hub for the production of hardware, but also a contributor to the research and development of new products and technological innovations.

Over the years, the MDC, working under Intel, has conceived many innovative breakthroughs in technological development but we’re here to tell you about the five biggest ones that have made a pretty significant impact on the world we live in right now.

1. Intel Compute Stick

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I’m sure you’ve seen this little guy making its rounds. If you haven’t, the Intel Compute Stick basically offers the full desktop experience of a computer, in something that looks like an oversized pen drive. It’s small and easy to carry around, plus the ease of being able to just plug it into any HDMI-enabled TV or display and turn it into a full-fledged PC makes it pretty nifty. Perfect for school and college use.

2. Intel NUC board Mini PC

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As we develop towards the miniaturisation of the PC, Mini PCs become the next stepping stone to that of the full sized tower desktops. Stuff like the Remix Mini we saw awhile back are often enough for most people and their daily tasks. At the forefront of Mini PC development is Intel with its NUC (Next Unit of Computing) line of computers. These are basically computer kits that come with a custom Intel motherboard and an Intel CPU plus slots in which you can install RAM and a hard drive yourself. Super compact, totally upgradable, and designed by Malaysians.

3. Pineview Intel Atom processor

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Intel’s Atom processors can be found in many netbooks, 2-in-1s and even smartphones. As a product line, the Atom processor is often associated with relatively inexpensive or portable netbooks and smart devices, but did you know that the first purpose built Low Cost Intel Architecture based System on a Chip design (codenamed Pineview Intel Atom) came out of the MDC team? Pineview processors cover the N4xx, D4xx, N5xx, and D5xx processors, all of which came with integrated graphics while boasting improved performance and a 20% drop in power consumption compared to previous generations.

This particular design propelled the growth of lightweight, compact and affordable netbook market, netting seven world-class manufacturing records before it was even launched in 2009.

4. Universal Serial Bus (USB) 1.0 micro controller

With modern computers, simply plugging and playing your pen drives, mice and keyboards among other things into the desktop’s USB ports is practically a norm. It is this convenience and seamless peripheral connectivity that the Malaysian designed USB 1.0 micro-controller has made possible. No hassle, no fuss, just plug and play.

5. Intel IoT Gateway

The Internet of Things is a fascinating notion that is becoming more and more complete as each day passes. Smart TVs, smart fridges, smart air purifiers, all contribute to the connectivity of objects with each other. But what about legacy objects that were conceived and created before the IoT was a thing?

Well, the MDC designed Intel IoT Gateway is one of these solutions that helps companies connect these legacy devices to the Internet. The device and sensor management application is an end-to-end IoT solution that has been successfully applied to smart agriculture systems and across a range of industries including hospitality, asset tracking and industrial automation.

These are truly amazing things that this home-grown team of engineers have accomplished since their inception. So, as the MDC celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, let’s all take our hats off to these awesome technologies and the Malaysians behind their design.



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