The Breakfast Grille

Malaysia is now one of the world's four biggest net exporters of AI hardware, and Jabil is one of the companies that put it there. But while the group poured half a billion US dollars into North Carolina and signed a multi-gigawatt AI platform in India this year, Malaysia's headline was a leased logistics hub in Sungai Jawi. We ask whether 14,000 people, silicon photonics and a Perlis plant are bu...

Everyone's watching Johor. But 4,500 acres of free industrial zone is quietly going up 800 metres from the Thai border at Bukit Kayu Hitam. This is the gateway that moved over RM50 billion in goods in 2024. Phase one is already more than 90% taken up, and after seven years of waiting, the road linking Malaysia's side to Thailand's new CIQ complex finally opened this July. We speak to Razwin Sulair...

After three decades in Malaysia’s satellite industry, MEASAT is navigating a market transformed by Starlink, streaming and rapidly changing connectivity needs. COO Yau Chyong Lim discusses the economics of billion-ringgit satellite investments, the push into managed services, AI, IoT and telehealth, and why Malaysia still needs sovereign satellite capability. Can MEASAT move beyond its traditional...

Following its $26 million Series C round and hitting net profitability, how is insurtech PolicyStreet planning its next phase of expansion? Lee Yen Ming, Co-founder and Group CEO of PolicyStreet, joins BFM’s Breakfast Grille to discuss how the firm built a business model alongside legacy insurers, pivoting from its direct-to-consumer roots into embedded B2B2C distribution and offshore Labuan reins...

GDP figures across AI-focused Asian hubs look strong, but they mask a broader economic weakness as weak domestic demand, escalating energy costs, new US tariffs, and high interest rates weigh on the non-AI economy. Stefan Angrick, Head of Asia-Pacific Economics at Moody’s Analytics, joins BFM’s Breakfast Grille to break down the depth of the two-speed economy in manufacturing hubs like Malaysia an...

GTA Holdings is heading for the ACE Market, servicing helicopter and aircraft engines out of Subang — with about 95% of that work tied to the military. But the prospectus raises questions: RM46mil in dividends paid out just before asking the public to fund a RM37.5mil building, cash dropping from RM107mil to RM23mil in eight months, and consultancy and software contracts awarded to a company owned...

The colonial heritage of modern Malaysia is a complex one, in large part because the three major territories that now make up the country had distinct histories and came under the sway of different powers over the millennia. Over the last century of the half though the landscape is marked by the North Borneo Chartered Company in Sabah, the White Rajahs of Sarawak as well as Malaya’s mix of Straits...

Malaysia's durian industry has gone from struggling to meet demand to dealing with a glut but at the very heart of it, it is very much a part of Malaysia. Datuk Anna Teo, founder and Group CEO of Hernan Corporation, a durian grower, processor and exporter, discusses falling prices, rising costs, and whether Malaysia can build a truly world-class durian industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Pos Malaysia hasn't turned a profit since 2018 — 32 straight quarters in the red and close to a billion ringgit in accumulated losses. But the first half of 2026 hinted at a shift: losses narrowed to RM63 million, revenue grew 8%, and cash flow turned positive for the first time in years. Group CEO Charles Brewer joins us to explain the pivot from mail to parcels, the push into pawnbroking and dig...

Malaysia's development financial institutions are carrying RM193.9 billion in financing across 1.8 million accounts — and until now, nobody has formally measured whether that money actually did anything. Bank Negara's new framework changes that, testing DFIs on whether their financing would have happened anyway without them. We put the hard numbers to the man who chairs them: impaired loans runnin...

As Malaysia rapidly approaches aged-nation status, managing long-term care, rising healthcare costs, and a shrinking workforce are becoming critical economic and social priorities. Hiroyuki Murata, Professor at Tohoku University's Smart Aging Research Center, joins BFM's Breakfast Grille to discuss how societies can shift from treating demographic aging as a fiscal crisis to leveraging it as a gro...

Skechers has grown from a US comfort footwear brand into a global business, with Southeast Asia playing an increasingly important role in its growth story. Zann Lee, Managing Director of Skechers Southeast Asia, talks about the company's expansion, competition and how to deal with boycott calls it faced in Malaysia over its perceived links to Israel. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Malaysia’s trade with Latin America and the Caribbean remains relatively modest, but shifting global supply chains and stronger diplomatic ties are opening new opportunities for businesses on both sides. The Latin American and Caribbean Chamber of Commerce has set an ambitious goal of doubling bilateral trade within five years. What is holding companies back today, which sectors offer the greatest...

Four years after Liberty's merger with AmGeneral, the integration story is largely complete. But the next challenge is bigger than combining two businesses. Puneet Pasricha, CEO of Liberty General Insurance, discusses the evolving risks facing the industry, how tech and AI are reshaping insurance, and why building customer trust remains fundamental. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

The split within Bersatu and the emergence of Parti Wawasan Negara have reshaped the opposition, raising questions about how the two parties will navigate their relationship within Perikatan Nasional. On the Breakfast Grille, Sharaad Kuttan speaks with Dr Afif Bahardin, Supreme Leadership Council Member of Bersatu, and Tun Fiqa Mohammad, Wawasan High Council member, about the reasons behind the sp...

Dassault Systèmes built its global business on 3D design and virtual twins, but its ambitions now extend from manufacturing and mobility into healthcare, cloud software and industrial AI. That expansion comes as Asian businesses contend with tighter technology budgets, shifting supply chains and pressure to demonstrate tangible returns from digital investment. As industries accelerate their adopti...

Home ownership remains a major aspiration for Malaysians, but affordability pressures, unsold properties and weaker transactions continue to expose the disconnect between what buyers want and what the market provides. PropertyGuru Malaysia sits at the centre of that market, connecting buyers, sellers and agents while wielding significant influence over how properties are discovered and marketed on...

The artificial intelligence revolution is underway, but how prepared are governments and businesses to navigate the changes this technology will bring over the next decade? We attempt to untangle some of the threads of policy discourse in Europe and Asia, as well as what this means for business strategy with Conall McDevitt, President of the Penta Group, an international strategy and com...

Businesses across Southeast Asia are under pressure to modernise their technology while keeping costs under control and managing growing expectations around artificial intelligence. For Workday, that creates opportunities to expand its cloud-based HR and finance platforms, but also challenges ranging from legacy enterprise systems and cautious IT spending to uneven digital capabilities and employe...

DXN Holdings has quietly built one of Malaysia's most international businesses through a global network across some 200 markets. Prajith Pavithran, the company's executive director and group CEO, explains why DXN is investing heavily in manufacturing and expanding across Latin America, while still fundamentally a direct-selling company, or something more? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

While solidly green, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) is helping create what pundits are calling the Blue Wave. After the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections the role of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia or PAS as part of a future federal government is being entertained as a real possibility. In this conversation with discuss PAS’ current political strategy, the foundations of its economic philosophy, th...

Nearly 80 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the institutions created to uphold it are under unprecedented strain. Philippe Bolopion, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch discusses Gaza, Malaysia, refugees, international law and why, despite mounting challenges, he still believes human rights are worth fighting for. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener...

Scicom MSC Bhd started life as a call centre. Today it processes the visa for every international student entering Malaysia, and holds a 15-year concession on GITC — the country's first national platform matching TVET graduates to jobs, launched by the Deputy Prime Minister in June. After 3 straight years of falling revenue, trailing twelve-month revenue is up 37%, profit up 96%, and the share pri...

PEOPLElogy just turned 25, and it's marking the milestone with a pledge to make five million Malaysians AI-ready by 2028, roughly one in three working Malaysians. It's a bold ask at a moment when over 52,000 Malaysians have already lost their jobs this year, more than half of them PMETs. But 14 months after listing on the ACE Market, the stock is at 21 sen, below its 25-sen IPO price, and FY2025 n...

China and Taiwan have had frigid relations since Democratic People's Party (DPP) became the ruling party in 2016, currently with President Lai Ching-te at the helm. How are the dynamics between Beijing and Taipei shifting in light of the Trump administration 2.0 policies? We discuss developments with Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener...