Malaysia’s hardware scene: Thoughts from a founder with 12+ years in the business

Eng Tong Tan, co-founder and CEO of Cytron

This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with 米雷牛 Millennials where we publish the revised transcripts from their interviews with millennial entrepreneurs. This is heavily revised from the original transcript of the interview. For the full interview, go here.

For this interview, we visited the headquarters of Cytron, an online marketplace for hardware in Malaysia. Cytron provides tools, accessories, and other parts for building hardware. It also built an educational robot construction kit for kids called Rero.

We sat down with its co-founder, Eng Tong Tan, and here are his views on the hardware landscape in Malaysia.

What inspires you to educate the next generation about robotics?

It has been 12 years since we started this company, and our main customer base initially were engineering students here in Malaysia. We started by selling some hardware parts to them. We also provided training.

After working with so many students, we discovered that most of them regretted signing up for an engineering course. It’s because when they chose the subject, they had no idea what engineering meant. They looked up to people who seemed to be having good results in engineering, so they thought they should do it too. But later on they realized that engineering was not what they expected it to be.

The students in the US, Europe, or Japan already start getting in touch with electronics, training, and robotics as early as when they’re in high school. But the students in Malaysia don’t have the opportunity for that kind of exposure while in university.

This is why we started the company—to help these students get more exposure before jumping into a program like engineering.

Do you think there is a lack of hardware startups in Malaysia?

Of course. Hardware is hard. But if you compare Malaysia with the entire Southeast Asia, our country has the most mature hardware industry. There are fewer hardware startups in Singapore and Indonesia, but we’re competing closely with Thailand.

But just because we still lack hardware startups doesn’t mean we have to go and build more. We still need to go back to the basics, as it’s mainly dependent on market demand.

Just because we still lack hardware startups doesn’t mean we have to go and build more.

If you see a problem that requires a hardware solution, then go build it. But while working on your product, consider this: can you buy an existing component, combine it with your solution, and then roll it out?

To build a piece of hardware from scratch is very tough. So, I think after discovering the market need, what you need to do next is look for existing parts that you can alter and build your product with.

Should Malaysian companies focus on the so-called Industry 4.0?

I think Industry 4.0 has been exaggerated, and it’s not yet ready at all. Some people say Malaysia is at Industry 2.0 or 3.0. So, how can we achieve Industry 4.0? We have no idea how to reach it.

Can an industry be dominated by robots?

Do you think robots can replace humans in the workplace?

How can startups attract more talent when the hardware industry in Malaysia is dominated by MNCs?

What’s your advice for young people who want to build a hardware startup?