Speech - Address by Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO of ITE, at the Electronics Industry Day on 17 Jan 2023, at ITE HQ

Ms Gan Siow Huang, Minister of State
Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower

Ms Jennifer Teong, Chairman
Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA)

Mr Ang Wee Seng, Executive Director, SSIA

Industry Partners and Distinguished Guests

ITE Colleagues and Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

Electronics Sector

1. I warmly welcome all of you to the Electronics Industry Day, jointly organised by SSIA and ITE. Today’s event is the start of a weeklong series of programmes constituting the Singapore Electronics Week which is championed by e2i, SSIA and SEMI, the global industry association that unites the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain. There are several reasons which compel us to organise today’s event. I will list four.

1. Electronics is a major industry that underpins Singapore’s economic growth and contributes 8% to Singapore’s GDP.

2. This sector is made up of companies with important activities in semiconductor, consumer electronics, IT electronics and niche areas like encryption technology, integrated circuit design, satellite communications, autonomous vehicles and wireless technology.

3. Singapore offers the breadth of the electronics value chain, that range from research and development, design, manufacturing and distribution services.

4. This sector employs about 60,000 people and it is important that industry practitioners, IHL staff, and IHL students who are the potential employees in this sector, come together to share and gain a deeper understanding of the industry trends as well as exciting careers and job opportunities in this sector.

Booths and Presentations by Companies and IHLs

2. More than 25 companies from the semiconductor and electronics industry have set up booths to highlight industry developments as well as careers and jobs. Among the companies are GlobalFoundries Singapore, Micron Technology,

STMicroelectronics, Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Company, HP and Hoya Electronics Singapore. 

3. Five universities (namely NUS, NTU, SUTD, SIT and TUM Asia), the five polytechnics and ITE have also set up booths to highlight their training programmes for this sector. ITE will showcase four Work-Study Diploma programmes that are relevant to this sector: i) Microelectronics, ii) IoT & Data Engineering, iii) Automation Engineering and iv) Applied Electronics & AI.

4. There will be five presentations/panel discussions by industry practitioners and university professionals on the following topics:

• Intelligent steel of the 21^st century

• Why the electronics sector is still a beacon of light

• Semiconductor enabling the metaverse

• Product life cycle and work experience in a semiconductor environment

• Enablers of the semiconductor Industry

• We can all look forward to an informative and stimulating programme.

ITE-SSIA MOU

6. This morning, ITE and SSIA will also be signing an MOU. This will formalise our commitment to strengthen our collaboration in the next five years, to organise joint events such as company visits industry seminars and career showcases to attract even more youths to enrol in the Electronics courses, and to provide them quality training, mentorship, and internships to ensure that they join the industry. 

Conclusion

7. I thank MOS Gan for gracing today’s event. My deep appreciation to the companies, universities, polys and ITE staff who have come together to ensure all participants will have a fruitful and enriching time together. The electronics sector is important in Singapore and it offers good jobs. Together, let us attract and develop talents for this sector!