Not that we're obsessed with weather but. . .we're happy to report that St. Jude Medical CEO Dan Starks is in a really warm place. Penang Island, Malaysia, to be exact.

On Tuesday, he joined Penang's Chief Minister Tuan Lim Guan Eng at the grand opening of St. Jude's new manufacturing facility in the Bayan Lepas industrial zone. St. Jude will invest about $300 million in the new 300,000-square-foot facility over the next five years. The facility now employs about 150 people who produce products for St. Jude's cardiac rhythm management division, including the new Accent pacemaker.

Noting that roughly half of St. Jude's $5.2 billion in annual revenue comes from outside the United States, spokeswoman Marisa Bluestone says the new facility will help the company expand its manufacturing capacity in the Asia-Pacific region.

Janet Moore covers medical technology for the Star Tribune.