After wrapping up his significant visit to Brunei, PM Modi arrived in Singapore on Wednesday, September 4. PM Modi’s visit to these two Southeast Asian nations is part of India’s diplomatic initiative to strengthen strategic partnerships with them. 

PM Modi held bilateral talks with the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lawrence Wong, to enhance bilateral ties and increase cooperation between the two nations. India and Singapore signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) in the fields of digital technologies, healthcare and medicine, skill development, and semiconductor technology.

The Prime Minister also visited AEM Technology Holdings Ltd’s semiconductor facility, a leading Singaporean semiconductor and electronics company, alongside his counterpart, Mr. Lawrence Wong. His visit to the semiconductor facility is significant for improving India’s technological capabilities and enhancing trade opportunities between the two nations. Singapore has a well-developed semiconductor industry, contributing 10% of global semiconductor output and 5% of global wafer fabrication capacity. With its semiconductor value chain, Singapore has equipment and material manufacturers present in the city-state, contributing 20% of global semiconductor equipment production.

Currently, Singapore’s semiconductor plants operate in four wafer fabrication plants, spread across 374 hectares. Despite being a prominent global semiconductor manufacturer, Singapore faces land and labour constraints. With rising production costs and increasing global competition, Singapore’s semiconductor companies are looking to diversify their operations outside the country.

India can provide Singapore with abundant land and skilled labour, encouraging semiconductor companies to expand and invest in India. India needs collaboration with such companies to provide impetus to its indigenous semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. 

Moreover, Singapore’s universities, which offer specific courses in the semiconductor sector, can help India develop skilled manpower and create knowledge-sharing opportunities in semiconductor manufacturing.

The MoU between India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry focuses on building semiconductor clusters and nurturing talent in semiconductor design and manufacturing across both nations.

Beyond the semiconductor ecosystem, the two leaders also held comprehensive discussions on other areas of collaboration, including digital technologies such as digital public infrastructure, Cybersecurity, emerging technologies like Supercomputing, Quantum computing, and Artificial Intelligence, as well as health, sustainability, and skill development.