Speech by MOS Alvin Tan at the Official Opening Ceremony of Pall's Microelectronics Filter Manufacturing Facility

Mr Naresh Narasimhan, President of Pall Corporation,

Mr Shangaza Dasent, Vice President/General Manager of Pall Microelectronics,

Mr Ricardo Cury, Vice President (Operations) of Pall Microelectronics Asia,

Mr Casey Mace, US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission,
 
Distinguished guests, 

Ladies and gentlemen,
 
Introduction 
 
1. Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you here to celebrate the opening of Pall’s Microelectronics Filter Manufacturing Facility in Singapore.

2. Pall’s journey in Singapore has spanned four decades.

a. Pall first established its Asia Pacific headquarters here in 1984.

b. This longstanding partnership has given the company confidence back in August 2022 to start building its plant for microelectronics (ME) filters here in Singapore.

c. I recall officiating the groundbreaking ceremony back then, where I likened these humble devices in the manufacturing of semiconductors to Singapore’s role as a critical node in the global semiconductor ecosystem.
 
Growth in the global semiconductor industry
 
3. The semiconductor industry is key to Singapore’s manufacturing sector – it contributes to about 8% of our GDP and employs over 35,000 people. Despite the slowdown in growth during the post-COVID years, we have continued to attract investments from semiconductor companies across the value chain – UMC, Ardentec, Siltronic, and Toppan, to name a few.
 
4. Amidst the rise of megatrends such as AI, 5G, and electrification, the demand for semiconductor chips is expected to increase significantly over the next decade – for example, AI chip demand is projected to grow at a CAGR of 22%. This demand will translate to the need for additional semiconductor manufacturing capacities. In time, we expect further investments from companies across the semiconductor value chain - from wafer fabrication to advanced packaging and test, from substrates manufacturing to mask manufacturing, and from equipment manufacturing that enable leading-edge chips to be fabricated, to ME filters that ensure high purity of chemicals in the chips.
 
Singapore’s partnership with Pall
 
5. Pall is a prime example of such high-value investments that are key to supporting the growth of the semiconductor industry. Its ME filters are important consumables which help remove contaminants from process chemicals to reduce the occurrence of defects. Such high purity is necessary to ensure that the respective semiconductor processes can be close to perfection, so that wafer plants can improve their yields and productivity. There is no room for error when manufacturing leading-edge chips, where the size of the transistors can be as small as 1/10,000th of our hair diameter.    
 
6. Pall’s investment is a testament to the strong partnership that it has had with Singapore all these years, and the benefits that it sees in anchoring its business here. By choosing to produce its ME filters in Singapore through this new facility, Pall is able to serve its growing customer base in the Asia Pacific region more effectively.
 
7. Importantly to us, Pall’s investment will help bring direct benefits to our semiconductor industry.

a. Its new facility is expected to hire 300 new STEM roles.
 
b. Pall’s facility also strengthens the resiliency of our local semiconductor ecosystem because it can supply ME filters to wafer fabs in Singapore. Pall’s investment is an addition to our existing ecosystem of key suppliers to wafer fabs, which includes manufacturers of key materials and substrates such as Soitec, Siltronic, as well as photomask blanks manufacturers like Hoya.
 
c. Being an additional manufacturing location for Pall also strengthens the resiliency of ME filters supply for wafer fabs globally. Singapore remains committed to being a trusted and reliable node for the global semiconductor industry.
 
d. Lastly, Pall is partnering the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute under our national research agency A*STAR, to engage in applied research within the area of additive manufacturing technologies. We look forward to more of such collaborations.
 
Conclusion
 
8. Once again, I thank Pall for its investment in Singapore. As we seek to grow our semiconductor industry, investments such as this are not only a vote of confidence to our ecosystem, but also to our larger manufacturing sector. Similarly, we welcome more win-win partnerships with companies to settle in Singapore, invest in Singapore and grow with Singapore.
 
9. Thank you and congratulations to Pall.