Business & Corporate across Malaysia
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Singapore firms take up cyber insurance as premiums fall and cover widens
More companies in Singapore are buying cyber insurance as coverage broadens and premiums ease, insurers and brokers say. Demand has grown over the past two to three years, led by technology and financial firms, with manufacturing, logistics, retail and healthcare catching up. One freight forwarder bought a $980-a-year policy giving $300,000 cover after a near-miss phishing scam.
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500 brave rain for final send-off of Sheng Siong founder's mother
About 500 people, including Sheng Siong staff and members of the public, braved rain on Sep. 11 for the funeral of Ng Lye Poh, mother of Sheng Siong founder and CEO Lim Hock Chee. Ng, known as "Sheng Siong Ah Ma", died on Sep. 5 aged 91. Employees said Lim had always shown concern for staff, and some attended to offer condolences.
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SFA ropes in NTUC bodies to match 235 ex-True Group staff with new jobs
The Singapore Fitness Alliance is working with NICA and e2i to help staff left jobless after True Fitness and True Yoga shut abruptly on Sep 10, 2026. About 235 affected employees have joined an SFA WhatsApp group, and a list of staff will be sent to member gyms on Sep 14. SFA said it will not help recover unpaid salaries or commissions.
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Baker's Brew, now BB Atelier, in liquidation; 95% of customers refunded
Singapore bakery Baker's Brew Studio, which rebranded as BB Atelier in late 2025, has gone into liquidation through a creditors' voluntary winding-up. It ceased operations on Jun 1, 2026, closing its Great World City outlet, and says over 95 per cent of affected customers have been refunded. The company also faces civil suits, including one from PS.Cafe's operator heard at the State Courts on Sep 1.
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Chubu Electric president and chairman to resign over falsified nuclear safety data
The top two executives of Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power are set to step down after an independent panel found earthquake-risk data was falsified during safety reviews for restarting reactors. The company said no decision has been made, while NHK reported the resignations would be announced on Sept 14.
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Study before joining boycotts, economist tells Malaysians
A Malaysian economist has urged consumers to verify facts before joining boycott campaigns against companies accused of US and Israeli links. He cited the McDonald's boycott and BlackRock's involvement in MAHB, warning of wider effects on local workers and institutions such as EPF.
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Malaysia's timber industry exports reach RM9.4 billion in first half of 2026
Malaysia's timber industry recorded RM9.4 billion in exports from January to June 2026, with annual average exports exceeding RM20 billion. Plantation and Commodities Minister Noraini Ahmad said the industry has expanded into furniture, building components and agarwood products, with over two million karas trees planted nationwide. She spoke at the closing of the Road to the Oud and Wood Artisan Expo programme in Kuala Lumpur.
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Segula plans Malaysia as South-east Asia hub, 50 jobs first
Segula Technologies India is working to set up Malaysia as its South-east Asia regional hub, with operations targeted to start within three quarters and 50 full-time positions in the first phase. Its India and Southeast Asia chief Arun Rajendran said the plan follows a meeting with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in New Delhi, and the company is in talks with MDEC, MIDA and Selangor-based Hicom Engineering.
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NCR land status, ageing farmers among challenges for Sarawak Dayak oil palm smallholders, says DOPPA
The Sarawak Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association says unclear Native Customary Rights land status is a major problem for Dayak oil palm smallholders in Sarawak, alongside an ageing farming population, replanting costs, labour shortages and rising fertiliser prices. Its president, Dr Napoleon R. Ningkos, says resolving land legitimacy is key to helping smallholders invest in sustainable practices and comply with rules such as the EU deforestation regulation.
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Matrade expands MIHAS Knowledge Hub into year-round trade platform
Matrade has turned its MIHAS Knowledge Hub into a year-round trade intelligence platform with AI-driven content curation, digital programming and multimedia formats for Malaysian exporters. The initiative includes four knowledge-sharing pillars, with Power Talk set for Sept 23 during MIHAS 2026, which runs Sept 23-26 at MITEC in Kuala Lumpur.
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Anwar urges maximum restraint in Middle East at BRICS meeting with Iran president
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that all sides must show maximum restraint over the Middle East conflict, speaking at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Leaders' Summit at The Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi. He stressed the need to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping, warning that disruption would hit global energy markets and Malaysia's own trade and fuel imports. The two leaders also discussed expanding Malaysia-Iran trade, which stood at RM2.45 billion in 2025, led by palm oil exports.
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6,580 SMEs scale up, KUSKOP targets 10,000 this year
A total of 6,580 micro, small and medium enterprises have scaled up their businesses so far, says Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong. He says KUSKOP aims for at least 10,000 SMEs to scale up this year, backed by an extra RM1 billion in microcredit financing that brings the total to RM6 billion. In Penang, RM737 million has been channelled to nearly 6,000 entrepreneurs.
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Geologist: Quartz sand in Sungai Pahang worth up to RM3,657 a tonne
Quartz deposits along Sungai Pahang could be worth up to RM3,657 per tonne, according to a geologist from Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah. He said granite in the upper reaches breaks down into quartz sand carried downstream, but no detailed study has been done on the deposits. Quartz is used in semiconductors, glassmaking and electronics.
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Maxland director Chang Keng Sing buys 26.11 million shares at 1.5 sen each
Maxland Bhd director Chang Keng Sing acquired 26.11 million shares through a direct business transaction on Sept 10, 2026, at 1.5 sen per share, worth about RM391,649. The purchase lifted his direct stake to 77.66 million shares, or 4.842% of the company. He holds no indirect interest.
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Anwar confident Malaysia will benefit from industrial cooperation with India
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed confidence that industrial cooperation with India will benefit Malaysia, speaking during his visit to New Delhi for the 18th BRICS Summit. He met representatives of leading Indian companies to discuss investment and professional cooperation in strategic sectors.
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25-year-old earning RM6,000 says firm offered RM2,500 at interview
A 25-year-old Malaysian man in the engineering sector claims a company offered him only RM2,500 for a senior executive role, citing his age, even though he currently earns RM6,000. His viral Threads post drew responses from other local jobseekers who said they had been similarly lowballed.
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SFA, NTUC bodies help True Fitness and True Yoga staff find new jobs after sudden closure
The Singapore Fitness Alliance is working with NICA and e2i to help employees and freelancers of True Fitness and True Yoga find new employment after the chains ceased operations on Sept 11. The Hong Kong parent company Kontafarma is winding up the businesses, and CASE has received 241 complaints with reported losses of over $609,000.
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Hyundai to launch own driver-assist software in 2029, two years late
Hyundai Motor Group will roll out vehicles with its in-house driver-assistance software in late 2029, two years later than planned, and will use Nvidia technology in the meantime. The South Korean automaker will offer Level 2+ and Level 2++ systems with Nvidia in 2028 while it develops its own Atria platform.
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French group Segula plans global engineering centre in Malaysia by end-2026
Segula Technologies plans to set up a global engineering centre in Malaysia by the end of 2026, hiring Malaysians and using AI to support the car, aerospace, energy and manufacturing industries. Its India and Southeast Asia chief Arun Rajendran said Malaysia could take on high-value design and engineering work now done in India, and that the group is in talks with HICOM Engineering on a partnership.
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Sim: Sarawak insurers must digitalise to match state's new economy
Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian said the state's insurance industry must speed up digitalisation, strengthen data analytics and better assess climate and environmental risks to keep up with Sarawak's push towards a high-income economy by 2030. Speaking at the Insurance Society of Sarawak's 47th anniversary dinner in Kuching on Friday, he also called for more collaboration among insurers, regulators and intermediaries, and for broader financial inclusion to protect vulnerable groups.
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PC prices in Singapore jump up to 40% as AI data centres soak up memory chips
PC prices in Singapore have risen by up to 40 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2026, with average laptop prices up 26 per cent to $1,650, according to IDC data. The surge is driven by a global shortage of RAM, storage and graphics cards as manufacturers divert supply to AI data centres, and IDC expects prices to stay high through most of 2027. Checks at Sim Lim Square found a 32GB DDR5 RAM kit nearly quadrupled in price in a year.
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Altman: OpenAI will not IPO in 2026 over AI safety fears
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will not go public in 2026, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence, in a Fortune interview. He added that OpenAI and other leading AI companies may be close to an agreement to slow AI development. Anthropic is reportedly planning to begin marketing its IPO as early as mid-October.
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Anthropic CEO urges slower AI development; Altman and Musk back the call
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday called for AI firms to slow the pace of developing powerful models, warning that building too fast is reckless. OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk publicly agreed, as pressure grows for oversight and a former researcher accused both US companies of gambling with lives.
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Ellison scraps plan to sell 50 million Oracle shares
Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison has cancelled a plan to sell 50 million shares of Oracle stock, the company said, a day after the trading plan was disclosed. No shares were sold under it and Ellison has no other plans to sell, Oracle said, as the firm funds a costly cloud build-out and absorbs higher restructuring costs.