FEC (M) Sdn. Bhd. chief executive Kunioki Ichioka was quoted by the Malay-language Utusan Malaysia as saying the patent for producing and marketing the MM chip would be shifted to Malaysia in six months.

Measuring 0.5 of a square milimeter and produced at less than 0.38 ringgit (10 cents) each, he said the chip would cut the production cost of Malaysia's national "smart identity card" from seven ringgit to one ringgit.

The smart card, the world's first for citizens, launched two years ago, wraps passport, identification, driver's license, medical and other personal details in a piece of plastic the size of a credit card.

Ichioka said the MM chip can also be inserted into the human body, bullets, credit cards and other items for verification purposes, and can replace price bar codes used to tag products.

The chip will be manufactured in FEC's factory in northern Kedah state.

Asked if MM was an acronym for Mahathir Mohamad, he said: "Maybe, it can also stand for Microchip Malaysia."

Officials said further details would be announced later Thursday by Mahathir after his annual talks with members of the International Advisory Panel on development of Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), which aims to make the country a high-tech hub.

Only 17 out of some 50 members of the MSC panel were attending Thursday's session while another 14 had sent representatives.

On the agenda are business strategies in the new economy, global outsourcing, broadband technologies, research, nanotechnology and biotechnology, officials said.

The MSC, a hi-tech enclave modeled after California's Silicon Valley, was launched in 1996 by the 77-year-old Mahathir who wants to see Malaysia become a developed nation by 2020.

Stretching about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south from Kuala Lumpur to the new international airport, it now houses 887 technology firms, 29 institutions of higher learning and nine incubator companies.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who will takeover from Mahathir when he retires at the end of October after 22 years in power, earlier this week said the MSC had achieved much success.

He said a total of 21,102 jobs were expected to be created within the MSC this year, up almost ten-fold from 2,190 jobs on offer in 1997.

Total revenue of MSC firms is expected to surge from 3.93 billion ringgit in 2002 to an estimated 5.83 billion ringgit this year, and 7.98 billion in 2004, he said.

Mahathir previously said the hub had not contributed to the economy as much as he expected. Critics have complained of a lack of focus, excessive bureacratic red-tape and a shortage of skilled labour.

But investment in the MSC has recently picked up pace with British banking group HSBC and Sweden's telecoms firm Ericsson launching regional centres in the zone in July.

SPACE.WIRE