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14/08/2026 05:33 pm MYT

China's GDP grew 5.0% year-on-year in the first quarter, 4.3% in the second quarter, bringing growth for the first half of 2026 to 4.7%. Most Western media has been focusing on the "weak" growth in the second quarter, highlighting it as the slowest in more than 3 years, attributing the performance to weak domestic demand and a prolonged property downturn outweighing strong exports. Therefore, Beijing is said to face increasing pressure to provide more economic support to stimulate the economy.

When the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held its end-of-Jul economic meeting on 30 Jul, 2026, it drew wide attention from the Western media as observers looked for fresh policy signals on how the world's second-largest economy will boost its growth momentum. Every year, the politburo meetings in Apr, Jul, and Dec serve as a window for the central government to set the tone for the next stage of economic operation and to adjust and guide macroeconomic and industrial policies.

Note from Publisher

This week, economy minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir announced that the federal government will allocate RM12.3 mln over four years for a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent development programme in Penang, with the aim of reaching 100,000 students by 2030. The programme is designed to expose students to STEM from an early age, helping to nurture interest and build the skills required for the industries of the future. Penang was chosen as the pilot location because its well-established industrial ecosystem provides an ideal environment to test and refine a model that could subsequently be replicated across the country.

This is precisely the kind of long-term investment in human capital that Malaysia needs to support the National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS). Malaysia needs to build a deep and sustainable pool of engineers, scientists, technicians and other highly skilled workers capable of supporting the industry's continued upgrading.

The Penang pilot is therefore more than just a STEM education programme. It is an investment in the human capital required for Malaysia's next phase of industrialisation. More programmes of this nature, sustained over many years and expanded nationwide, will be essential if Malaysia is to move up the semiconductor value chain and realise the ambitions of the NSS.

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