KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 -- Malaysia has reportedly emerged as an unexpected destination for the global semiconductor industry, inching out the conventional favourite China amid companies' bid to protect its geopolitical interests.

United Kingdom-based business newspaper Financial Times reported that dozens of companies have set up operations in Peninsular Malaysia in the last 18 months, especially in Penang, such as American chip giants Micron and Intel, European semiconductor companies AMS Osram and Infineon, and Suzhou-based Fengshi Metal Technology.

"It's a rush. It's not only Chinese companies [setting up in Penang]. It's Korean, it's Japanese, and it is Western.

"And all of this is related to the tech war between the US and China,"...