Minister of State Teo Ser Luck at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference Press Conference

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Speech by Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, at the ISSCC Press Conference on Tuesday, 27 November 2012, 10.00am at Goodwood Park Hotel

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning.

Introduction

1.                  I am glad to be here today to congratulate IEEE (read I-Triple-E) Solid-State Circuits Society as it celebrates the 60th anniversary of its International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). ISSCC is widely known as the “Olympics” of integrated circuits, or IC design, and Singapore is proud to host the press conference leading up to the 2013 ISSCC.

2.                  For the first time, ISSCC 2013 will see the presentation of five research papers from Singapore institutes, an increase from two in previous years. I would like to commend our universities, research institutes and companies in Singapore for this remarkable achievement. After all, ISSCC has showcased some of the world’s greatest semiconductor inventions during the different phases of the semiconductor industry.

Key drivers of Singapore’s semiconductor industry

3.                  Since the creation of the first transistor 60 years ago, the global semiconductor industry has seen phenomenal growth and success, especially in the face of rapid innovation and technological advancements in recent years.

4.                  The focus of the semiconductor industry is gradually shifting towards Asia. In the last decade, Asia Pacific’s share of global semiconductor revenues has grown from about one third to more than half. Many multi-national companies are responding to this trend by shifting their research and development centres to Asia. More efforts have also been made to understand the Asian markets, so as to create new and better products for Asia, in Asia. 

5.                  In view of these trends, Singapore is well-positioned to capitalise on the emerging opportunities to develop novel semiconductor solutions and provide greater value to the industry.

6.                  Singapore’s semiconductor industry has successfully transformed from being labour–intensive to one that is driven by knowledge and innovation today. This is made possible through building and leveraging on expertise and capabilities in public sector organisations such as the universities and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

7.                  A*STAR has been conducting R&D to develop the next generation of “more than Moore” technologies in areas such as Three Dimensional Integrated Circuits (ICs), Next-generation Memory ICs, MEMS Sensors ICs, and Radio Frequency ICs. These efforts have catalysed collaborations and strategic public-private partnerships with a wide range of industry players. In March this year, A*STAR’s Institute of Microelectronics (IME) and Applied Materials jointly opened the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Packaging for 3D chip packaging, equipped with a fully-integrated line of 300 millimetre manufacturing systems to support the R&D of 3D chip packaging, which is a critical growth area for the semiconductor industry.  

8.                  Singapore has placed great emphasis on talent development as the availability of skilled manpower is one of our value propositions to industry. In the area of IC design, the number of IC design engineers has doubled since 2003. Today, there are about 1,300 IC design engineers, where 40% are in analog and mixed-signal. In 2010, the Singapore Economic Development Board and Nanyang Technological University jointly established VIRTUS, a S$50 million IC Design Centre of Excellence. Within two years, VIRTUS has enrolled more than 70 Masters and PhD specialists. The Centre was also heavily involved in Singapore’s ISSCC 2013 research paper submissions.

9.                  With the quality of research and expanded IC design community in Singapore, we have attracted eight of the world’s top ten fabless semiconductor companies and many leading Integrated Device Manufacturers such as Infineon, STMicroelectronics and NXP have established their IC design centres here. Last year, the semiconductor industry was, once again, the largest contributor to private sector R&D spending in Singapore. It accounted for almost 50% of the total R&D expenditure by Singapore’s manufacturing sector. 

Conclusion

10.              Singapore is committed to staying at the forefront of developing semiconductor technologies. It is therefore with great pride that I take this opportunity to announce that Singapore will, for the first time, host the 9th Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC) in November 2013. A-SSCC is Asia’s flagship IC design conference, and I look forward to the gathering of the brightest IC design engineers and researchers here.

11.              In closing, I wish all a successful proceeding of ISSCC and A-SSCC, and I look forward to a lasting partnership between Singapore and IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society. Thank you.