India, Singapore Sign Agreement on Chips

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Singapore on September 5, which was the second stop on his Southeast Asia trip, where he had earlier visited Brunei.

Modi’s visit to Singapore led to various agreements, especially on digital technology and semiconductors. India’s Prime Minister and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on partnership between India and Singapore, which will enable the two countries to collaborate in creating semiconductors.

Singapore accounts for about 11% of the global market for microchips, and the country plays a particularly important role in creating the equipment used to manufacture them.

Among India’s goals is to become a player in this particularly strategic sector, and according to a report in Italian economic newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, it has created $10 billion in incentives to launch chip manufacturing in the country.

The Indian semiconductor industry is in its infancy, and with this agreement, it will be able to look forward to working with Singapore, which has been playing a role in this market for decades as it houses factories of important players in this sector, such as NXP Semiconductors (a Dutch company) and Micron Technology (USA) and has know-how in semiconductor design and research.