The way Manuel Zarauza sees it, the success of Malaysian Pacific Industries (MPI) has always been thanks to the company’s ability to adapt swiftly and position itself for any changes long before everyone else even arrives.
That mindset has transformed the semiconductor packaging and testing specialist from a traditional outsourced semiconductor assembly and test provider into a company deeply embedded in some of the world’s most significant technological shifts.
AI, autonomous vehicles, advanced memory, photonics and humanoid robotics are all part of a future Zarauza believes is arriving faster than many realize. The past five years have been marked by aggressive expansion for MPI. In Ipoh, Malaysia, the company ramped up medium and high-power automotive packaging and advanced sensor solutions for automotive, energy and robotics, while building a dedicated new facility catering to wide bandgap technologies such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride.
“The technology was there 20 years ago, it only needed time.”
In China, Carsem Suzhou continued growing its automotive, AI and energy capabilities, while a new, highly automated facility was built in Suxiang. And in Thailand, MPI expanded its footprint through the acquisition of a memory-focused facility in Bangkok, its first move beyond Malaysia and China.
And always, alongside growth is significant investment in technology.
“We invested a lot in new things, such as wide-band gap, gallium nitride and new advanced packages for AI servers,” Zarauza tells The CEO Magazine.
Navigating challenges
However, the economic climate has been less than ideal. The landscape following the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a perfect storm of geopolitical tension, supply chain disruption, talent shortages and economic uncertainty.
The escalating trade war between the United States and China has reshaped customer behavior and supply chains, while weakness across Western automotive markets has provided further complexity. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures continue to affect every corner of the business.
“All the raw materials are going up,” he says. “Gold, metals and logistics. Electricity, people’s salaries. Everything is going up, so this doesn’t help. For us, a big challenge is the exchange rate because the dollar is so weak.”
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Yet despite these headwinds, MPI continues to flourish. The company recorded 33 percent year-on-year top-line growth in the 2026 financial year, excluding the Bangkok acquisition, with a deliberate focus on sectors that Zarauza believes will define the next decade.
“We are now riding the AI servers,” he says. “We have all the capability built up from the last 10 years. Now we are fully in AI servers. But we have also the next-generation AI servers with silicon carbide.
“We are fully in automotive for self-driving cars with the sensors and with all the packages that you need in a car. The same applies to humanoids because of the sensors of the power packages and now with the memory that we acquired in Bangkok.”
Shifting focus
That long-term view is perhaps best illustrated by a strategic decision Zarauza made a decade ago. At the time, MPI was heavily focused on mobile technologies. He shifted the organization’s attention toward automotive applications – a move many considered risky at the time.
“When I started, my end goal was always self-driving cars,” he explains. “That’s why, 10 years ago, I changed the strategy totally to being the preferred partner for automotive. It seemed like science fiction, but for me it was clear: there will be humanoids – robots, like you see in the movies – and there will be self-driving cars. The technology was there 20 years ago, it only needed time.”
“You need to have the ecosystem and it needs years to build.”
Zarauza has seen this change firsthand, with more than 30 years of manufacturing sector experience, working with Siemens, Osram Opto Semiconductors and Seoul Semiconductor, before joining MPI. He combines that experience with resilience, curiosity and flexibility to produce the most effective leadership.
Then, of course, it’s about building the best team possible, including a trusted network of suppliers such as semiconductor manufacturing and technology company QPL.
“We think in partners, we think in profitable growth,” Zarauza enthuses. “It all needs to be every time, every quarter, but step by step. You need to have the ecosystem and it needs years to build.”
Local investment
Over the past five decades, MPI has played a central role in nurturing Malaysia’s broader semiconductor supply chain, helping local suppliers develop the capabilities required to compete on a global stage. Zarauza takes particular pride in the fact that many automation, testing and equipment companies operating successfully today first grew alongside MPI.
By investing in suppliers, sharing expertise and raising standards across areas such as manufacturing, automation and ESG, the company has helped create an industrial ecosystem that strengthens not only its own competitiveness, but Malaysia’s position as a global semiconductor hub.
“We are shaping the world. I’m very proud of what we are achieving and I’m prouder of what’s still to come.”
The future may be harder to predict than ever before, but Zarauza believes the qualities required to navigate it are becoming clearer.
“After 54 years, we are still here,” he says with a smile. “We are debt-free, which always amazes me because we invest a lot.
“We are driving and thriving, so customers really love to work with us. They love our technology, they love how humble we are. Our suppliers are loyal. They love to work with us also.”
Whether through smartphones, vehicles, data centers, telecommunications networks or future generations of intelligent machines, the company’s technology quietly underpins countless aspects of modern life.
“We are really a local hero that is making meaning in the world. We’re impacting nearly every human – people don’t realize,” he says.
“We are shaping the world. I’m very proud of what we are achieving and I’m prouder of what’s still to come.”
