Mr Teo Ser Luck, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, at the Opening of Qualcomm’s International Business Hub and R&D Centre in Singapore

SPEECH BY MR TEO SER LUCK, MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY, AT THE OPENING OF QUALCOMM’S INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS HUB AND R&D CENTRE IN SINGAPORE FROM 12.15 – 1.00P.M. ON THURSDAY, 29 MARCH 2012, AT THE CONRAD CENTENNIAL HOTEL

Mr Jim Lederer

Executive Vice President & General Manager, Qualcomm CDMA Technologies

Mr John Stefanac

President of Southeast Asia and Pacific, Qualcomm International

Ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon. Qualcom is a provider and enabler in the industry, like Singapore which backs successful companies as well. I am delighted to join you today to celebrate this partnership between Qualcomm and Singapore; and the opening of Qualcomm’s International Business Hub and R&D Centre. This is a significant investment for Singapore. Qualcomm is the world’s largest fabless semiconductor company. It is also the largest supplier of ICs that wirelessly connect many of our mobile phones and tablet computers to the Internet, including, I’m told, mine. 

Semiconductors is a growing and vibrant industry in Singapore

The semiconductor industry is today one of the largest industries in Singapore. It accounted for about 4% of Singapore’s GDP last year and almost half of the private sector R&D spending in the manufacturing industry. And it continues to grow, creating over a thousand skilled jobs every year.

The global demand for semiconductors will no doubt continue to be strong, driven by the growth in smartphones and tablet computers. But the market in Asia will grow faster than the world. In fact, the centre of gravity for the semiconductor supply chain is now firmly entrenched in Asia, and Singapore is well-positioned and well-prepared to capitalise on this growth. The opening of Qualcomm’s International Business Hub, which I understand will employ over 100 professionals, is testament to Singapore’s competitiveness as a control tower from which companies can oversee their Asia-Pacific or International business. In fact, 6 of the top 10 fabless semiconductor companies have their regional headquarters in Singapore.

We have a growing semiconductor R&D environment

To sustain Singapore’s competitiveness as a semiconductor hub, we have embarked on a journey to move up the value chain by investing heavily in R&D. For example, to develop talent in analog and mixed-signal IC design, the EDB and the Nanyang Technological University, with generous support from the local IC design centres, have set up VIRTUS. VIRTUS will train 100 Masters and PhD IC design specialists, particularly in the areas of power management and energy harvesting.

Another initiative is the $70 million Industrial Postgraduate Programme to train 200 PhD scientists. The PhD students enrolled in this programme will be awarded a full government scholarship that covers their salary and their tuition fees while they work at companies’ R&D labs.

And I am happy to note that Qualcomm will also be setting up a IC Design and Engineering R&D Centre. This will offer our young researchers an opportunity to be part of a global team to create solutions that connect the world.  With this R&D centre, I hope that Qualcomm will be able to collaborate with VIRTUS and participate in our Industrial Postgraduate Programme so that together, we can build a world-class R&D hub in Singapore.

Conclusion

In closing, let me extend my heartiest congratulations to Jim, John and your team on the opening of your International Business Hub and R&D centre. I thank you for your confidence in Singapore and I wish you every success in this project.

Thank you.