India, Singapore semiconductor industry collaboration to entail talent development, knowledge sharing & value chain

India and Singapore will on Thursday finalise a pact on semiconductor industry to spur collaboration in talent development, ensure knowledge sharing on the semiconductor industry and create a robust value chain. The pact will be signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation.

Singapore universities have developed customised courses for the semiconductor sector. The partnership will also entail knowledge sharing about best practices of managing semiconductor industrial parks (called Wafer Fab Parks in Singapore), said people familiar with the developments.

In terms of factors of production, Singapore has limitations of land and labour. India, with abundant land and skilled labour, can join Singapore’s semiconductor value chain.


Semiconductor companies in Singapore can be encouraged to consider India for their expansion plans, according to one of the persons cited above.

Modi reached Singapore on Wednesday after his Brunei visit and will engage with the entire top leadership of the city state.

Singapore contributes to around 10% of global semiconductor output, 5% of global wafer fabrication capacity and 20% of semiconductor equipment production. Semiconductor sector contributes to 8% of Singapore’s economic growth. Nine out of the 15 top semiconductor firms have set up shop in Singapore. The city state has players in all three segments of the semiconductor value chain.

Factors that contributed to the development of Singapore’s semiconductor industry are infrastructure and connectivity, stable business conditions, a critical mass of leading companies based in the country covering the value chain (from design to wafer fabrication, to assembly and testing) and human capital, a second person said.

To develop talent, Singapore universities are offering majors on microelectronics and IC design, and are collaborating with semiconductor companies by having their employees doing PhD research.

Singapore is now getting benefits of global focus on de-risking and improving supply chain resilience, as it appears to be a safe bet in the era of US-China rivalry.

In 2022, Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp announced a $5 billion investment to set up a semiconductor fab, which is expected to begin operations in 2024. In September 2023, GlobalFoundries inaugurated a $4 billion fabrication plant in Singapore. This plant is capable of manufacturing specialty chips at 28 nm node technology (most advanced in Singapore). In June 2024, NXP Semiconductors and TSMC-backed Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp announced a $7.8 billion joint venture for a Singapore plant (named VisionPower Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) that will make 40 to 130 nm chips for the automotive, industrial, consumer and mobile market segments. Construction will commence in the second half of 2024, with production starting in 2027.