Emphasizing that chips are produced in TÜBİTAK laboratories, Işık said, "However, we do not have the infrastructure for mass production. We want to cooperate with Malaysia on chip production."

Fikri Işık, Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, said: "We are determined to produce domestic chips, and we have started work on this issue."

After the country's first gallium nitrate-based chip factory, which was established in partnership with ASELSAN and Bilkent University, work has begun under the leadership of the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology for Turkey's first large-scale silicon-based chip factory with mass production capacity.

Emphasizing that chips are produced in TÜBİTAK laboratories, Işık said, "However, we do not have the infrastructure for mass production. We want to cooperate with Malaysia on chip production. Therefore, we visited Silterra and MIMOS. We are determined to produce chips domestically, and we have initiated work on this issue."

Underlining that they are working intensively on this issue and that they attach great importance to their visit to the facilities in Malaysia in order to determine the right scale for the factory to be opened, Işık said that they will also conduct examinations in other countries.

Stating that they will decide on the best and appropriate technology for the domestic silicon-based chip factory during the preparation process, Işık said, "After that, we will hopefully bring the first chip factory to Turkey. For the moment, preparations are underway, and when the developments mature, we will announce when the first chip factory will be opened."

"Silicon is the most economical technology in chip production"

Bahadır Tunaboylu, President of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) Marmara Research Center (MAM), said that there are three raw materials preferred in chip production in the world: silicon, gallium nitrate and gallium arsenide, but silicon is the most widely used. Stating that gallium nitrate is mostly used in LED lamps and sensor chips, Tunaboylu said that silicon is used in a wide range of products such as computers, mobile phones, memory chips, detectors and amplifiers.

Tunaboylu explained that Malaysia also has an integrated circuit, packaging and electronics industry in this field. Stating that Silterra is one of the important players in this field, Tunaboylu said, "Silicon is the most mature and economical technology used in chip production in the world. The vast majority of the chips, processors, memory and devices produced in the world, such as 90 percent, are produced with silicon-based technologies. Turkey also wants to take steps in production after design in this regard."

Silterra and MIMOS

Chip Factory Silterra was founded in 1995. Silterra, which has become the world's 15th largest silicon integrated circuit manufacturer, exported 2 billion dollars between 2001 and 2013. The factory, which exports 99 percent of its production to the USA, Europe, China, Taiwan and Korea, started producing silicon wafers for the first time in 2001 and currently produces 30 thousand silicon wafers per month.

MIMOS, the National Research Center for Information Communication Technologies, was established in 1984. Working on information technologies, MIMOS serves as Malaysia's National R&D Center. MIMOS, which identifies the information security vulnerabilities of the institutions in their country and produces in that direction, develops devices and software.