Singapore has a growing and vibrant electronics industry that accounted for S$90 billion, or over a quarter of Singapore’s manufacturing GDP in 2017.
Our electronics industry is made up of over 2,900 companies with key activities in semiconductor, consumer electronics and information technology. Other niche areas include encryption technology, integrated circuit design, satellite communications, and wireless technology.
Singapore offers the breadth of the electronics value chain, that range from research and development, design, manufacturing, and distribution services. As a global trading and distribution hub for electronics and semiconductors, Singapore exported more than US$80 billion (S$108 billion) worth of semiconductors and electronic integrated circuits to the world in 2016. This comprises almost 10% of global electronics and semiconductors exports.
The Singapore government has outlined plans to grow the electronic industry with the Electronics Industry Transformation Map (ITM). It aims to grow the electronics sector to S$22.2 billion and introduce over 2,000 new Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMET) jobs by 2020.
Tap the opportunities created by the ITM to boost the electronics value chain, and deliver innovative digital technologies and electronics components. There is scope for your electronics firm to attract high value-added manufacturing activities, boost productivity via automation, and uncover new innovations in manufacturing.
The already flourishing global electronics market is expected to grow at an average of 15% annually from 2016 to 2026, reaching a value of US$3.0 trillion (S$4 trillion). This presents many opportunities for your company in new growth areas such artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, industrial robotics, and the Internet of Things.
The growing middle class and urban population worldwide are driving demand for consumer electronics. A key segment is the market for smartphones, where the rapid growth of wireless technologies like Bluetooth, near-field communication and Wi-Fi encourage the development of devices with new features and technologies.
Singapore companies can ride on the constant rising demand for consumer electronics worldwide to continue growing. For example, Singapore company Zimplistic has invented intelligent kitchen appliance Rotimatic that can make flatbread in 90 seconds. Vanda Electrics introduced Singapore’s first electric supercar to the global market in 2017. And Creative Technology has just rolled out an innovative 3D headphone product in 2018, customised to the wearer.
The Internet of Things (IoT) technology is driving the creation of smart household appliances. This is fuelled by technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy, micro server and micro-electromechanical systems.
A forerunner in this space is locally-based SkyLab, which provides IoT data logistic solutions to enterprises. These digital solutions help companies gain insights and enable proactive actions on asset optimisation and resource management. Auk Industries is another player in the IoT field that has created a wearable ‘fit-bit’ for machines to track real-time operations and productivity.
Besides IoT, artificial intelligence (AI) is also an increasingly popular trend. You too can take advantage of opportunities in the key applications of AI like autonomous vehicles, drones, face recognition, robots, and voice recognition.