Press Release - Youth-Centric Initiatives Launched at Electronics Industry Day 2023 to Attract Young Talents to the Electronics Sector

Singapore, 17 January 2023 – Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) jointly organized the Electronics Industry Day 2023 with ITE. Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State for Education, graced the event as Guest-of-Honour.

This event serves to be our industry's largest outreach platform to showcase the immense potential of Singapore's semiconductor Industry and its commitment to producing world-class talents. This year, to create greater awareness about our industry, we are collaborating with SEMI, our global industry trade association, together with e2i, to co-organise the Singapore Electronics Week. Both SSIA Electronics Industry Day and Advanced Semiconductor Technology Conference (ASTC) are part of this exciting week.

The shortage of semiconductor talent is today a global phenomenon. The Electronics Industry Day started in 2019 with close partnership with JTC to increase the visibility of the semiconductor industry and to attract more talent to join us. and SSIA has been working closely with our economic agencies, IHLs and companies to encourage more students to join the sector upon graduation. And this has remained our primary goal to create a larger impact on the industry with the youth.

Singapore is expecting more than 2000 jobs and training opportunities for the sector, spanning the value chain from technical and innovation engineers to process and operations roles. Companies in the industry are continuing to hire aggressively into 2025, fueled by the acceleration of digitalization, disruptive new technologies, and cutting-edge innovations which have semiconductors at their core. 

Mr Ang Wee Seng, Executive Director of SSIA reiterates, “Despite the global economic headwinds and the cyclical downturn of the sector, the semiconductor industry still continues to create good job opportunities and to offer a variety of roles to shape the future of technology and our economy. And more importantly, this flagship event dives into addressing one of our top priorities – to build a robust pipeline of talent in the electronics sector. We need to continue to build a strong community of young champions.”

Highlights of the event from companies to IHLs

More than 25 companies from the semiconductor will set up booths to promote greater awareness of our industry by showcasing their profiles and technologies as well as career and jobs in their companies. Among some of these companies are AMD, Hoya Electronics Singapore, GlobalFoundries Singapore, Micron Technology, STMicroelectronics, Soitec and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company amongst others.

Institutes of Higher learning, the five polytechnics and ITE have also set up booths to highlight their training program for this sector. ITE will showcase four of its electronics-related Work-Study Diploma (WSDip) courses, namely the (i) WSDip in Microelectronics, (ii) WSDip in IoT & Data Engineering, (iii) WSDip in Automation Engineering, and (iv) WSDip in Applied Electronics & AI.

Milestones: Youth-Centric Initiatives to pave the way forward

The spotlight that has been shining onto our industry, and the continuous campaign to promote semiconductor and electronics have led to an increase in the number of students interested in pursuing a career in our industry.

This year Electronics Industry day sees the launch of 2 key milestones to galvanise the youth:

1. ITE-SSIA MOU

2. Semiconductor Active Youth Ambassador Programme

These initiatives will see a collective and close partnership with the IHLs and companies to create a robust pipeline of young talent for the semiconductor industry.

1. ITE-SSIA MOUITE has been working with the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association to provide industry visits for our students, sharing by industry practitioners and mentoring programs to develop talents for the electronics industry. The MOU will strengthen the collaboration in the next five years to organize joint events such as company visits, industry seminars, career showcase to attract even more youths to enroll in Electronics courses as well as receive quality training, internship, workplace learning and mentorship.Ms Low Khah Gek, Chief Executive Officer of ITE, said, “The electronics industry forms the core of Singapore’s manufacturing sector, and is a major sector of growth for the economy. As Singapore seeks to strengthen its position as an electronics hub, there is a strong demand for skilled manpower. This partnership supports the development of our students as skilled talents for the electronics industry, by broadening industry exposure and workplace learning opportunities for them. It also reinforces our efforts to develop work-ready graduates who can contribute effectively to the future economy.”

2. Semiconductor Active Youth (SAY) Ambassador Program
   To grow a sustained talent pipeline for the electronics and semiconductor sector, SSIA will be championing the first-ever industry-led initiative as a catalyst for the youth to be the voice of the future of the industry. This initiative will kickstart the communications campaign by SSIA in partnership with EDB to promote the industry.In this one-year program, queen bee companies notably – AMD, ams Osram, GlobalFoundries Singapore, Institute of Microelectronics, Micron and Tokyo Electron Singapore will pilot this initiative from a one-on-one mentoring with industry leaders of these companies to inculcating interest and knowledge through activities and community building in the year.Through this initiative, we hope to create more awareness of the industry by igniting interest and curiosity in the youth ambassadors to galvanize their peers to be the beacon of light and voice for the future of our industry. The goal is for more students to pursue a career in the industry upon graduation.This initiative is also a testament to the commitment from IHLs and companies to nurture young talent, and to profile young emerging talent in the sector. More importantly, this initiative fosters a closer and on-going interaction between the mentors in the queen bee companies and the youth ambassadors in the one year beyond the occasional workshop and internships.A SAY Ambassador from NUS School of Engineering, Mr Tan Zhi Sen quips , “I am very grateful and honored to be given this opportunity to be an ambassador the industry. I hope in the future, from to peers to peers, I can bring such opportunities to them and show them the value of those opportunities.”For more details of the Electronics Industry Day 2023, please visit https://electronicsday.com.sg