Nikkei: Singapore is determined to develop semiconductor industry announces billions of dollars in semiconductor-related investment

According to Nikkei Asia, data released on Wednesday show that American companies, mainly semiconductor companies, play an important role in Singapore's new capital investment.

The Singapore Economic Development Commission, which is responsible for attracting foreign investment, reported that last year, new investment commitments in facilities, equipment and machinery reached S $11.8 billion (US $8.77 billion). Of this total, American companies accounted for 67.1%, or S $7.9 billion.

By contrast, the overall figure is down sharply from 2020. In 2020, Singapore attracted a total investment of S $17.2 billion, the highest level in more than a decade.

Beh Swan Gin, chairman of Singapore's Economic Development Commission, told reporters online that the focus is not on fluctuating from year to year, as these figures depend on the profile of some projects, but chip manufacturing supports the 2021 figure.

Due to increased investment by US semiconductor companies, electronics accounted for the largest share of Singapore's investment commitments last year, accounting for 42.3 per cent, or S $5 billion. Biomedical manufacturing is not far behind, accounting for 15 per cent.

The novel coronavirus pandemic led to global chip shortages last year, disrupting supply to carmakers and making chip shortages a pressing problem for governments. At the same time, the novel coronavirus epidemic has also boosted global demand for consumer electronics, digital services and related chips.

Singapore wants to grow across the entire value chain of the semiconductor industry, from chip design to wafer manufacturing to packaging and testing, as well as support areas such as research and development and regional distribution.

Although Singapore has announced billions of dollars in semiconductor-related investment, it still has a long way to go to compete with other Asian chip manufacturing powers with a larger share of the world, such as South Korea.

Singapore is trying to prop up its electronics industry and has set a target of 50 per cent growth in manufacturing by 2030, with the semiconductor sector prominently performing in this process.

"many industry leaders believe that supply shortages will last until 2023." "but we are optimistic about the outlook for semiconductors in the next 12 months, maybe even 24 months," Beh of Singapore's Economic Development Council said on Wednesday.