The nine-year old India Singapore strategic partnership just got a promotion, to comprehensive strategic partnership. What does that mean? As a senior former diplomat told Stratnewsglobal, it means both sides are committed to major joint projects over the long term.
By that yardstick, Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Singapore and his discussions with his counterpart Lawrence Wong, appears to have ticked off cooperation and collaboration in the key areas of Advanced Manufacturing with the focus on semiconductors.
“We too want to create many Singapores in India,” Modi told Wong, “initiatives have been identified for cooperation in areas such as skilling, digitalisation, mobility, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors and AI, healthcare, sustainability and cybersecurity.”
Modi suited action to words, visiting the facilities of AEM Semiconductor which has plans to enter India. He was also briefed by the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association on the ecosystem in the island and the opportunities for collaboration with India.
Singapore contributes 10% of the worldwide output of semiconductor chips, 5% of the global wafer fabrication and 20% of the production of semiconductor equipment.
Singapore’s interest in India flows from diminishing returns from its various investments in China, and India’s ambitious drive to lay the foundations of a sustainable semiconductor ecosystem in the country. Market projections have estimated the size of India’s semiconductor related market at $64 billion in less than four years.
It’s been just about four months since Modi laid the foundation stone for three semiconductor projects. The government is offering incentives to foreign companies in the chip space to invest here. Hopefully, more Singapore firms in this space will bite, helping to turn India into a global hub for chips.
The two countries are also upping their cooperation in cyber security with Singapore’s Cyber Emergency Response Team and CERT-India working together in digital security. Such cooperation goes back to 2015.
In the digital stream, a joint working group is being set up to oversee various digital initiatives. The MoUs signed during the Modi visit also cover data flows, digital public infrastructure and business to business linkages.
It will cover 5G and emerging technologies such as supercomputing, quantum computing and AI. It will enable upskilling and reskilling workers in the digital domain.
An MoU on healthcare will among others, promote Indian healthcare professionals in Singapore. The two sides have also agreed to cooperate in technical and vocational education and training.
