D&O's RM1bil journey tests what it takes to build a sustainable Malaysian semiconductor champion
- ID
- 36758
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 18 Oct 2026, 2:30 PM
- Fetched
- 18 Oct 2026, 7:49 PM
- Provider
- Digital News Asia
- Category
- malaysia-tech
- Original URL
- https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/digital-economy/dos-rm1bil-journey-tests-what-it-takes-build-sustainable-malaysian-semiconductor
- Source URL
- https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/rss.xml
Summary
- Score
- 3.0
- Created
- 18 Oct 2026, 7:49 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- startup_founders
What happened
D&O Green Technologies crossed RM1.017bil revenue in 2023 and RM1.076bil in 2024, but revenue fell 8% to RM989.7mil in 2025 even as shipment volume rose 5.8%, producing a RM228.2mil net loss versus a RM39.5mil profit in 2024. The pressure continued in H1 2026: revenue fell 5.8% to RM457mil and net loss was RM84.3mil, leaving trailing-12-month revenue around RM962mil. The article frames D&O—automotive LEDs via Dominant Opto and IC design with a 2020 Hsinchu entity while outsourcing wafer fab—as a test of whether Malaysia’s NSS can help deepen capabilities and commercialise proprietary technology.
Why it matters
For Malaysian hardware/deep-tech founders, the concrete lesson is that D&O’s shipment volume grew 5.8% in 2025 while revenue fell and inventory impairments drove a RM228.2mil loss—so a RM1bil revenue milestone is not proof of a durable business; model inventory, utilisation and product-transition risk before treating NSS targets as validation. Software-only builders get little direct action from this beyond tracking NSS as semiconductor policy context.
Discussion angle
Is RM1bil revenue the right NSS milestone, or should policy and founders focus on margin/inventory resilience and IP commercialisation? Use D&O’s 2025 loss despite higher shipment volume as the live case.