Kibing Group Spurs Additional 700 Jobs

The State Government’s efforts to streamline foreign investment has made the process so seamless that the volume of investment has increased significantly. One of China’s biggest business groups - Kibing Group – for example, has already invested significantly in Sabah. It first started in 2021, when Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor visited Kibing Group’s glass factory manufacturing site in Negeri Sembilan, at the invitation of Yu Qi Bing, and Dato' Lim Swee Ee, the Group’s Chairman, and President, respectively who were already attracted to Sabah’s strategic location, compatible infrastructures, and good government governance.

In 2022, the Kibling Group set up its state-of-the-art and innovative solar glass manufacturing factory in Sabah. In 2023, the RM2.5-billion-ringgit, cutting-edge Sabah Kibing Solar New Materials (M) Sdn Bhd Factory, at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), Sepanggar, was opened. It immediately created employment opportunities for the local community: 1,100, or at least than 80 per cent of its 1,300 workers, were Sabahans.

Hajiji shared some of his thoughts on 25 April 2025 at an Aidilfitri reception with Kibing Group’s personnel at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP). The Group is preparing to recruit another 700 Sabahans in May 2025, adding the number to the 1,625 Sabahans already working in various management, engineering, technical and operations positions in the Kibing Group. “This constituted more than 83 per cent of the Kibing Group’s total workforce, Hajiji said. “The priority is employment, training and development of Sabahans. The Kibing Group and the State Government have jointly added another transformative economic venture for Sabah. It is a testament of the State Government’s success in pursuing high-impact projects.”

In November 2024, the Kibing Group invested in another venture: building a new RM7.2 billion solar glass manufacturing plant in Kimanis. By 2025, the Group has awarded RM50 million worth of contracts to local companies. The Kibing Group’s has already exported 1,500 containers of solar glass valued at USD14 million per month to Southeast Asia, South Asia, North America, Africa, and Europe. By end of 2025, the Group’s plant will attain full production. The forecasted annual production capacity of 440,000 tons of solar glass is beginning to position Sabah as one of the prominent players in Malaysia's solar glass manufacturing industry. Sabah is committed to ensure that the state remains as an investor-friendly destination, Hajiji assured.