Transcript of doorstop by MOS Alvin Tan at the SSIA Semiconductor Business Connect 2025

I am happy to be here at the SSIA Semiconductor Business Connect again. The semiconductor industry is a very innovative industry, and it is also a very important industry and sector for Singapore's economy. As you know, Singapore accounts for about 10% of chips manufacturing globally, as well as 20- 22% of chips equipment manufacturing. So it is a core part of our manufacturing sector. It accounts for about 8% of our economy and 10% of manufacturing jobs in Singapore. 

What we are trying to do here today is a couple-fold. First, is to continue to bring the multinational companies, the semiconductor companies, together even more closely, together with our small and medium enterprises, like we see outside the very strong synergies between the manufacturing companies that are multinational in nature, as well as our suppliers here. I think that is really important, because it creates new jobs. It creates new opportunities for our SMEs. And it is not just in the manufacturing of chips, but also, for example, packaging, creating, IC chip design, failure analysis and also software. So we see it across the entire supply chain. That is one important part of it – connecting the multinationals with our SMEs. 

But the more important part of it is talent, and that is why today we see an MOU between Nanyang Polytechnic, AI Singapore as well as SSIA. These are initiatives that SSIA has been rolling out over the years, including at their SSIA Semiconductor Business Connect almost every year, to do a few things. One is to expose our Singaporeans to the opportunities in the semiconductor sector. Number two is to work with these companies to avail new opportunities, not just in full time employment, but also traineeships, work study, as well as research partnerships. So in concert, there is good opportunity. There are wonderful and exciting state of the art opportunities within our semiconductor sector. We are pulling together the MNCs and the SMEs, and we are also providing support and training for our job seekers as well as our students to take on very interesting roles in the sector.

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Q&A

CNA: How should Singapore position itself amidst all the global uncertainty?

MOS: Yes. Well, as we know, the global volatility and uncertainty, particularly in supply chains and semiconductors and also other parts of the economy, are affecting people's confidence. I think where Singapore's true value lies, is in us being a safe and trusted hub, where we are predictable and we have predictable policies. We have very strong ecosystem, and we have very strong partnerships between the MNCs who have chosen to invest here, including Micron, Infineon, Global Foundries and many others that you see, who have already landed on our shores and are working together with trusted partners, the SMEs that support the entire value chain. I think that is where Singapore plays an incredibly important role as a safe, trusted hub, ecosystem for the semiconductor industry.

CNA:How can companies, especially SMEs, manage rising costs for the year ahead?

MOS: Yes, I think the key part of it is with regards to growing their businesses. The government has also come in, and I mentioned earlier on in my speech, the government has many different grants, many different initiatives to support our SMEs, to look after costs, and that could be in their decarbonisation efforts, in terms of helping to train talent to go in. So that is input into talent, input into decarbonisation and sustainability initiatives. We have also announced earlier this year other initiatives to help them to set up facilities in and around Singapore. There is also relaxing some requirements with regard to land, JTC and others. So across government, we are all supporting our SMEs, particularly today in our semiconductor sector.

BT: Just now, we just heard a presentation about some of the opportunities that Singapore has in the semiconductor space, and there were some suggestions or initiatives, like a one stop portal of SMEs so that MNCs know where to tap on. Is that something that the government might take note of?

MOS: Yes, I mentioned earlier on, that we work very closely with trade associations like SSIA, and to do exactly just that. Twofold. One is you can have a directory. Second is to work with SSIA and our trade associations to be a very strong, reliable interlocutor between policy makers, government as well as industry.And we are taking those feedback, including factoring those feedback into the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce, looking at the impact on tariffs on the economy. And also in the semiconductor space, we are working very closely with SSIA. They have studies, for example, with Frost & Sullivan to look at the impact of the landscape of the semiconductor sector, and also other health surveys on the tariffs. So we are taking [into account] these reports and these studies very carefully, working with SSIA and industry associations, including SME industry associations, to factor some of their feedback into our deliberations.

LHZB: We have heard about the use of semiconductor tariffs. What kinds of action is the government taking to diversify our semiconductor exports, and so far, what kind of consequence of diversification are we seeing?

MOS: Well, our semiconductor sector is diversified. We are also a critical node in the global supply chain and manufacturing of both semiconductor chips themselves as well as semiconductor equipment manufacturing. Sowe play [the role of ] an important node across the entire supply chain, and Singapore is critical in this production of both chips as well as equipment manufacturing. I think you will see that both the end users as well as the big companies that are here in Singapore, they recognise that Singapore is a key part of it, as well as a key part of the diversification of the entire supply chain. So we will continue to play that role, be a safe and trusted partner, and allow for these companies to come in, work with reliable suppliers, and then also enable us to play a very, very important role in the production of semiconductor chips.

ST: So right now, the semicon[ductor] industry makes up about 6% of our GDP. Are you expecting that to grow sizeably in the short term and the middle term?

MOS: Yes, with regards to the sectors and different sectors, I mean, our economy has to diversify. Our economy has to be flexible and look at opportunities. And that includes other areas, right? Manufacturing as a whole, logistics as a whole, financial sector as a whole, and the semiconductor industry is also an important part of the manufacturing sector. And that also includes precision manufacturing, precision engineering, additive manufacturing. So we look at it quite holistically. And I keep using the term ecosystem, because not just one part of a sector is important, but is a component part for a large ecosystem. For example, you look at Sin Chew, who is a crate supplier logistics; that is also important part of the economy. If we build and we bring in more manufacturing on chips as well as more manufacturing on chip equipment, then SMEs like Sin Chew, even if they are in logistics, will benefit from it. So we look at it as an important component part, chips manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing and semiconductor equipment manufacturing as part of the entire manufacturing cluster. But also as an important part of the whole economy that Singapore is trying to foster.

Thank you very much.