Why Intel is here to stay

Malaysia is a country of endless opportunities, as Chris Kelly discovered upon moving here. Having excelled in Intel, US for 17 years, Chris was delighted to discover the wealth of opportunities on offer in Malaysia, and feels this is the country to be in for engineers looking to take their careers to the next level. 

A manager with 17 years of experience working at Intel in the United States, Chris Kelly has an impressive résumé. His wealth of knowledge and experience makes him a valuable asset to the company. Having worked his way up the ranks, Chris knows what makes a good leader and what a good leader needs to provide for his team to advance.

Chris jumped at the opportunity to come to Malaysia to help manage and guide the company’s world-class design centre in Malaysia in October 2011. Today, he is responsible for nearly 2,000 engineers conducting research and development for various Intel products. 

When Chris moved to Malaysia, he was impressed by TalentCorp and the Residence Pass-Talent (RP-T) programme, and felt it showed Malaysia’s understanding of the global market. “(It is) a wonderful way for longer term expatriates to have additional certainty of employment and residence status in the country. So many multi-national companies have their bases here and a host of Malaysian companies are starting to reach out to the world themselves.”

Extremely pleased with his move to Malaysia, Chris strongly recommends foreign talents consider a career move to Malaysia, especially for engineers as the industry is booming.  “Malaysia is a destination for engineering professionals, offering a vibrant eco-system, great career opportunities, and a chance to participate in the growing electronics sector.” Other benefits include an attainable standard of living coupled with a “welcoming, multi-cultural environment” suitable for raising a family.

Now heading teams in Malaysia, Chris has much praise for his Malaysian employees, putting them on a par with any other workforce in the world. With Intel as part of TalentCorp’s FasTrack programme since its inception and a regular participant of the GRADUAN career fairs, Chris has been delighted by the talent that comes through from these initiatives.

"We hire over 200 fresh college graduates every year in the Design Center and we can put our Malaysia talent toe-to-toe with other geographies in terms of productivity, knowledge and innovation. Increasingly we see Intel Malaysia as a destination employer for Malaysians studying abroad and wishing to return home."

While chasing new talents, Chris often engages Malaysians working abroad and his message is simple: Malaysia is a prominent player in emerging markets and its multi-cultural environment means that it has the ability to make its mark in Asians countries. Returning home is definitely advantageous to many Malaysians taking the next step in their careers. 

Malaysia offers an ideal geographical position to be able to see how emerging markets are developing and have a chance to impact them positively.”