February 4, 2015: India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the premier trade body representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) with an objective to establish and develop trade and technical cooperation links between the electronics and semiconductor industry of both countries.
India and Singapore are two countries with varied strengths and opportunities in their respective ESDM industries. India has a huge domestic ESDM market, but lacks adequate manufacturing capacity. The demand-supply gap is expected to widen up to US$300 billion by 2020 as the ESDM Industry size is expected to reach US$400 billion while local production and services is estimated to be around US$100 billion. On the other hand, Singapore is one of the leading country in manufacturing of electronics products and semiconductors. With approximately 40 IC design companies, 14 silicon wafer fabs and 20 assembly and test units, Singapore nurtures an end-to-end ESDM ecosystem.
While it opens opportunities for Singapore EDSM companies to move up the value chain by shifting some manpower intensive operations to competitive and proximallocations like India; Indian firms are benefited through setting up their operations in Singapore, providing them a better understanding of the trends and demands in the South East Asian markets. Moreover, the Singapore government has introduced programs including incentives for locally conducted R&D along with infrastructure and human resource development programs for high-end manufacturing. Such developments in either economies make both markets conducive and attractive for investments.
Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Chandak, chairman, IESA and senior director, NXP Semiconductors said, “Both Singapore and Indian markets are considered highly important markets in the global EDSM sector. There are emerging opportunities for Singapore companies to support the SPEED UP of the semiconductor fabs set up in India and also the electronics products creations as the demand continues to grow manifold in India. Through this MOU and the white paper on India-Singapore ESDM industry collaboration opportunities, the member companies of both associations can harness the business potentials and strengthen the trade and Investment promotions between Singapore and India.”
Commenting on the collaboration, Meenu Sarin, assistant secretary, SSIA and director, VLSI Consultancy said, “In Singapore, the manufacturing sector is witnessing growth in the value chain of higher margin activities such as research, development, and services. There has been a significant investment increase by semiconductor firms in Singapore with the intention to expand R&D and supply chain operations. Through this partnership, we aim to establish contacts between organizations and encourage reciprocal visits of official business persons and technical specialists between the two countries. Our endeavour will be to maintain a continuing exchange of information, investment promotion and harnessing a healthy environment for research and development as well as business opportunities between the two countries.”
Recommendations for collaboration areas in ESDM sector between IESA and SSIA:
- Business to business opportunities:
- Opportunity for Singapore companies to create support ecosystem for setting up fabrication units in India
- Investment in ATMP units in India
- Opportunity for Indian companies to help Singapore scale up design talent
- Singapore companies to invest in electronic component ecosystem of India
- Indian companies to set up operations in Singapore to explore emerging South East Asian markets
- Singapore companies to explore India as a competitive location for Hitech competencies.
- Government to government opportunities:
- Joint fund for R&D
- Partnership between Sector Skill Council for standardization in skill development
- Collaboration for implementing standards in area of electronics design, manufacturing
