Singapore, India to leverage each other's strengths in semiconductor and digital tech

Singapore: Singapore and India on Thursday agreed to cooperate and leverage each other's strengths in the field of semiconductor and digital technologies.

The two countries exchanged a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong on the final day of Modi's latest visit to Singapore. It's his fifth visit since taking office 10 years ago.

The agreement "aims to support India's growing semiconductor industry while facilitating Singapore's ecosystem of semiconductor companies and related supply chains to participate in the fast-growing Indian market", said Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a statement.

The MoU was signed by Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, and India's Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw during the India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable on August 26.

"India aims to establish itself as a global node for semiconductor manufacturing, driven by strong domestic demand in the electronics, electric vehicles, and manufacturing sectors," noted MTI.

"Singapore's established semiconductor ecosystem has produced a strong cluster of semiconductor companies which are keen to participate in the growth of India's semiconductor industry," it said.

With the agreement, Singapore and India will leverage each other's strengths in the semiconductor industry and build their supply chains, which include government-led policy exchanges on ecosystem development, supply chain resilience and workforce development, said MTI.

MTI and India's Ministry of Electronics and IT will establish a policy dialogue to facilitate discussions, oversee the implementation of the areas of collaboration, and exchange best practices.

A parallel business-to-business cooperation forum will also be established and led by Enterprise Singapore and the India Semiconductor Mission to encourage more private-sector partnerships between both countries.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Wong noted the "deep and enduring friendship" that both countries share is "built on strong economic and people-to-people ties".

"We have set out a forward-looking agenda for the next phase of our bilateral relations. This includes closer cooperation in areas like sustainability, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies and connectivity," said Wong.

He also noted that Singapore and India are upgrading their strategic ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

"This is a timely move as we expand our partnership in new and mutually beneficial areas, and celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of our strategic partnership next year," said Wong.

"We look forward to strengthening our ties and creating new opportunities for our peoples," he added.

Meanwhile, speaking at the Singapore-India forum on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat noted that since the signing of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) in 2005, annual bilateral trade has grown from SGD 20 billion to SGD 51.2 billion in 2022. He added that Singapore was also India's largest external investor in 2022.

"The significance of CECA lies not just in deepening economic linkages between India and Singapore ... (but) in serving as a pathfinder for other agreements to foster closer economic linkages between India and ASEAN, and India and other Asian countries." During his trip, Prime Minister Modi also visited the site of Singapore semiconductor ecosystem player AEM Singapore, said MTI. He was accompanied by Wong, and Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law K Shanmugam.

"The visit comprised a sharing led by Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) on the development of Singapore's semiconductor industry and opportunities for mutual collaboration between Singapore and India partners, and a tour of AEM's facilities," said MTI.

The ministry added that EnterpriseSG is partnering with the Singapore Precision Engineering & Technology Association (SPETA) to feature the Singapore Pavilion at the inaugural SEMICON India show from Sep 11 to Sep 13, with more than 20 Singaporean companies participating, according to a Channel News Asia report.

In partnership with the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association, SSIA is also planning a business mission to India, said the Channel report.