Construction cranes still surround the brand-spanking new plant in Kulim’s industrial park in Malaysia. But inside, legions of workers hired by the Austrian tech giant AT&S are already gearing up to produce at full capacity by year’s end.
在马来西亚居林这座簇新的工业园，周围还能看到建造施工用的塔吊。但在厂房内部，奥地利科技巨头奥特斯招聘的大批工人已经为年底前实现满负荷生产做好了准备。

Outfitted in head-to-toe coveralls, with oversized safety glasses and hard hats, they’re reminiscent of the worker bees in the movie “Minions,” but color coded by function: Blue for maintenance. Green for vendors. Pink for janitors. White for operators.
他们从头到脚一身工装，戴着大大的护目镜和安全帽，让人想起电影《小黄人》中工蜂一般的角色，衣服颜色代表了不同的职能：蓝色是维护人员，绿色是供应商，粉色是清洁工，白色是操作人员。

AT&S is just one of a flood of European and American companies that have recently decided to move to or expand operations in Malaysia’s electrical and electronics manufacturing mecca.
最近，大批欧美企业决定迁入或扩大在马来西亚的这个电子电气制造圣地的业务，奥特斯只是其中之一。

The American chip giant Intel and the German corporation Infineon are each investing $7 billion. Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips powering artificial intelligence, is teaming up with the country’s utilities conglomerate to develop a $4.3 billion artificial intelligence cloud and supercomputer center. Texas Instruments, Ericsson, Bosch and Lam Research are all expanding in Malaysia.
美国芯片巨头英特尔和德国英飞凌在这里分别投资了70亿美元。全球领先的人工智能芯片制造商英伟达正在与马来西亚的公用事业集团合作，耗资43亿美元开发人工智能云和超级计算机中心。得州仪器、爱立信、博世和泛林集团也都扩大了在马来西亚的业务。

The boom is evidence of how much geopolitical friction and competition are reshaping the globe’s economic landscape and driving multibillion-dollar investment decisions. As rivalries between the United States and China over cutting-edge technology simmer and trade restrictions pile up, companies — particularly those in crucial sectors like semiconductors and electric vehicles — are looking to strengthen their supply chains and production capabilities.
这种兴旺的景象体现出地缘政治摩擦和竞争重塑全球经济格局，并推动着数十亿美元投资决策的程度。随着美中在尖端技术方面的竞争愈演愈烈，贸易限制日益加剧，企业——尤其是半导体和电动汽车等关键行业的企业——正在努力强化自己的供应链和生产能力。

AT&S had production sites in Austria, India, South Korea and China — its largest plant — when it started hunting for a new location.
在寻找新的生产基地之前，奥特斯在奥地利、印度、韩国和中国（其最大的生产设施所在地）都有生产基地。

“It was clear after 20 years of investment in China, we needed to diversify our footprint,” said Andreas Gerstenmayer, chief executive of AT&S. The company manufactures high-end printed circuit boards and substrates, which serve as the foundation for advanced electronic components that power artificial intelligence and supercomputers.
“很明显，在中国投资20年后，我们需要在业务上实现多元化，”奥特斯首席执行官安德烈亚斯·格斯登美尔说。该公司生产高端印制电路板和载板，是为人工智能和超级计算机提供动力的先进电子元件的基础。

The company’s site search started in early 2020, just as warnings began to spread about a dangerous new coronavirus in China. AT&S scouted 30 different countries on three continents before settling on Malaysia.
该公司在2020年初开始为新厂选址，当时有关中国出现了一种危险的新型冠状病毒的警告刚开始传开。在选定马来西亚之前，奥特斯在三大洲考察了30个国家。

Southeast Asia’s strategic position in the South China Sea and longstanding economic ties to China and the United States make the region an attractive place to set up shop. Nations like Thailand and Vietnam, AT&S’s second choice, are also aggressively courting semiconductor firms to expand, offering tax incentives and other lures.
东南亚在南海地区的战略地位以及与中美长期的经济联系，使得该地区成为一个极具吸引力的建厂地点。泰国和越南等国也在大力吸引半导体公司的进入，提供税收优惠和其他好处。

But Malaysia has the advantage of a head start.
但马来西亚有拥有先行一步的优势。

The country has been riding the tech wave since the 1970s when it energetically courted some of the world’s electrical and electronic superstars, like Intel and Litronix (now ams Osram, with headquarters in Austria and Germany). It created a free-trade zone on the island of Penang, offered tax holidays, and built industrial parks, warehouses and roads. Cheap labor was an additional draw, as was its large English-speaking population and stable government.
自20世纪70年代以来，马来西亚就开始抓住科技浪潮带来的机遇，当时它大力吸引了一些电子电气领域的世界巨星，比如英特尔和Litronix（现为总部设在奥地利和德国的欧司朗的旗下企业）。它在槟榔屿建立了一个自由贸易区，提供免税期，并修建了工业园区、仓库和道路。廉价劳动力、庞大的讲英语的人口和稳定的政府也是额外吸引力。

Malaysia’s history in the back end of making semiconductors was one of the primary draws, Mr. Gerstenmayer said.
格斯登美尔表示，马来西亚在半导体后端制造方面的经验是主要吸引因素之一。

“They are quite aware of what the needs of the semiconductor industry are,” he said. “And they have a well-developed ecosystem in the universities, in education, labor force, supply chain” and more. Support from the government was another attraction, he said.
“他们非常了解半导体行业的需求，”他说，“在大学、教育、劳动力和供应链等方面，他们有成熟的生态系统。”他还表示，政府的支持也是吸引他们的原因。

Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry, said foreign investment began to pick up 2019, driven by the widening use of semiconductors in everything from automobiles to medical devices. “There’s 5,000 chips in one car,” he said.
马来西亚投资、贸易和工业部长丹库·扎富鲁尔·阿齐兹表示，2019年开始，随着半导体在从汽车到医疗设备等各个方面得到广泛应用，外国投资开始增加。“一辆车上有5000个芯片，”他说。

After the Covid-19 pandemic revealed devastating weaknesses in global supply chains, interest in Malaysia as an additional source soared.
在新冠疫情暴露了全球供应链何其脆弱后，人们对马来西亚作为另一个供应来源的兴趣大增。

That trend accelerated as great power conflicts bubbled over.
随着大国冲突的爆发，这一趋势加速了。

Both China and the United States moved to forge their own reliable semiconductor supply chains, in addition to supporting other critical sectors like renewable energy and electric vehicles.
除了支持可再生能源和电动汽车等其他关键行业外，中美都开始打造可靠的半导体供应链。

“U.S. and European companies and even Chinese companies wanted to diversify out of China,” Mr. Zafrul Aziz said. China, too, is locating production facilities outside of the mainland, in part, some say, to sidestep U.S. sanctions. It’s a “China plus one” strategy.
“美国、欧洲企业，甚至中国企业都想在中国以外实现多元化，”扎富鲁尔·阿齐兹说。中国也在把生产设施搬到大陆以外，有人说，部分原因是为了避开美国的制裁。这是一种“中国加一”战略。

Worries about Taiwan, the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, has further fueled investment in Malaysia, he said. The island is a source of growing friction between China, which maintains Taiwan is part of its territory, and the United States, which supports it politically.
他说，对全球最大的芯片生产地台湾的担忧进一步刺激了对马来西亚的投资。台湾成为中美之间日益加剧的摩擦的根源，中国认为台湾是它的领土，而美国在政治上支持台湾。

Malaysia is already the world’s sixth largest exporter of semiconductors, and packages 23 percent of all American chips.
马来西亚已经是世界第六大半导体出口国，美国23%的芯片是在马来西亚生产的。

“For a country of this size to be having that big an impact on the global semiconductor market is quite fantastic,” said David Lacey, director of advanced development and services at Osram, one of the world’s largest lighting companies.
“这样一个规模的国家在全球半导体市场上有着如此大的影响，真是相当的不可思议，”欧司朗的高级开发和服务主管戴维·莱西表示。欧司朗是全球最大的照明公司之一。

Seated at a large conference table at the Sciences University of Malaysia on Penang, he rapidly pointed to the technology around the room. “There’s a TV, there are lights, there’s a projector, there are phones,” he said. “You can pretty much guarantee there is a Malaysia component somewhere.”
他坐在位于槟城的马来西亚理科大学的一张大会议桌前，快速指点着房间里的科技设备。“这里有电视，有灯，有投影仪，还有电话，”他说。“基本可以保证里面总有点马来西亚的成分。”

The proximity of so many tech companies also exerts a gravitational pull. In Penang and Kulim, which are connected by two long, snaking bridges, there are more than 300 companies.
众多科技公司的聚集也产生了引力。槟城和居林由两座蜿蜒的大桥相连，这里共有300多家公司。

“Everything is here,” said Eric Chan, a vice president and general manager at Intel in Malaysia. After a half century, that network and infrastructure are not easily duplicated.
“这里什么都有，”英特尔马来西亚分公司副总裁兼总经理埃里克·陈（音）说。经过半个世纪的发展，这种网络和基础设施已难以复制。

Mr. Chan also mentioned the government’s crucial cooperation during the pandemic in keeping factories open.
埃里克·陈还提到了疫情期间政府在保持工厂开放方面的关键性合作。

Foreign direct investment was nearly $40 billion last year, more than twice the total generated in 2019.
去年外国直接投资接近400亿美元，是2019年总额的两倍多。

Mario Lorenz, managing director in Malaysia for the German logistics company DHL Supply Chain, said “most of our big investments have happened in the last two years.”
德国物流公司DHL供应链在马来西亚的董事总经理马里奥·洛伦兹表示，“我们的大部分重大投资都发生在过去两年。”

During that time, the semiconductor sector has grown to dominate the company’s business in Malaysia. “We followed the trend,” he said.
在此期间，半导体行业已经发展成为该公司在马来西亚的主要业务。“我们顺应了潮流，”他说。

Inside DHL Supply Chain’s newest global distribution center, Penang Logistics Hub No. 4, are bespoke orange and blue shelves specifically designed to handle the heavy, oversized crates used by a semiconductor company.
在DHL供应链最新的全球配送中心槟城物流中心4号，有定制的橙色和蓝色货架，专门用于处理一家半导体公司使用的超大重型板条箱。

Four new supply chain facilities are in the works in Malaysia.
马来西亚有四个新的供应链设施正在建设中。

Malaysia’s track record has been mostly in the back end of the semiconductor supply chain — which includes packing, assembling and testing components — activities that traditionally have been considered less complex and of lower value.
马来西亚过去主要是在半导体供应链的后端，包括封装、组装和测试组件，这些活动传统上被认为不那么复杂，价值也较低。

But now the industry’s focus on packaging smaller chips — chiplets — more tightly together to increase computing power is increasing the value and technical complexity of those activities.
但现在业界关注的是将更小的芯片——芯片组——更紧密地封装在一起，以提高计算能力，这增加了这些活动的价值和技术复杂性。

Intel is building its first overseas facility for advanced 3-D chip packaging in Malaysia. When you bring in cutting-edge technology there is a “ripple effect,” said AK Chong, a vice president and managing director of Intel in Malaysia. That development will attract dozens of new businesses and help advance the labor force’s entire skill set.
英特尔正在马来西亚建设其首个先进3D芯片封装海外工厂。英特尔在马来西亚的副总裁兼董事总经理AK·张（音）说，当你引进尖端技术时，会产生“连锁反应”。这一发展将吸引数十家新企业，并有助于提高劳动力的整体技能。

Although such advancements will require a huge expansion of utilities like green energy, sanitation, water and a 5G digital infrastructure, several company executives said they were confident of the Malaysian government’s commitment.
尽管这样的进步需要大规模扩张绿色能源、卫生设施、供水和5G数字基础设施等公用事业，但几位公司高管表示，他们对马来西亚政府的承诺充满信心。

“They have projects to provide green energy by building up big solar farms,” Mr. Gerstenmayer of AT&S said. “Malaysia is on good path to becoming a hot spot in the electronics industry globally.”
“他们有建设大型太阳能发电场的项目，提供绿色能源，”AT&S的格斯滕迈尔说。“马来西亚正走在成为全球电子行业热点的道路上。”

Patricia Cohen驻伦敦，撰写有关全球经济的报道。

翻译：纽约时报中文网