Singapore—At a visit to Global Foundries Singapore together with Minister Josephine Teo, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing outlined on Monday (Oct 19) the three key strategies in ensuring that Singaporeans continue to have good and well-paying jobs, including “anchoring leading Multinational Companies (MNCs)” in the country.
The first two strategies he mentioned are supporting more start-ups so that they can flourish and “create the next generation of jobs,” and increasing efforts to help local businesses “strengthen their capabilities and scale quickly through innovation, digitalisation, and internationalisation.”
With regards to MNCs, Mr Chan called the strategy of establishing them in Singapore “an evergreen one which still remains relevant today,” underlining their importance as they “not only catalyse our local industry, but also allow us to remain plugged into the global network, which will entrench our position in our global value chain.”
Global Foundries is an American semiconductor foundry that manufactures integrated circuits in high volume, mainly for semiconductor companies. It has several plants in Singapore.
Commenting on the semiconductor industry in Singapore on a Facebook post, Mr Chan said that it is the “result of the gumption and determination of our forefathers,” who pioneered the first companies in the country over three decades ago. The industry, he continued, has only grown steadily over the years.
https://www.facebook.com/ChanChunSing.SG/posts/3670006066384683
“Today, Singapore is a key semiconductors hub where global semiconductor companies manufacture or design devices that enable some of the everyday technologies that surround us, and is a key manufacturing location for some of the biggest semiconductor companies in the world,” Mr Chan continued.
Calling Global Foundries Singapore one of the leading MNCs, he added that it brought not only deep expertise but also deep connections to Singapore, which in turn “helps to develop a strong ecosystem of local SMEs and companies to support the industry and add to the overall dynamism of our economy.”
Aside from this, MNCs also serve to provide valuable upskilling and diversifying for the workforce via the training they provide, which is vital to their growth, but also helps build “a more productive workforce with higher value-add,” allowing workers to command higher wages.
In his post, the Trade and Industry Minister once again underlined the importance of Singapore’s openness to leaders in worldwide industries.
“Given our natural limitations, Singapore’s ability to remain open and partner global industry leaders will determine our continued success. This is important for our long term growth because when businesses grow, they bring along their workforce to a higher level of competency and create more good jobs for our workers.”
Business Times reports that Thermo Fisher Scientific and Hyundai Motor Group recently announced major investment plans in the country, with Thermo Fisher establishing “a S$130 million biomedical facility to house two new sterile filling lines, to support the development and manufacture of therapies and vaccines.”
As for Hyundai, the South Korean automative manufacturing giant will be investing S$400 million in a new innovation centre that will “enhance automotive manufacturing processes and develop smart vehicles.”
Mr Chan cited these examples of investments of MNCs in catalysing local industries. —/TISG
Read also: Quality, not quantity, key when it comes to global talent in Singapore — Chan Chun Sing