SSIA Held the Annual SSIA Summit

Published:2011/11/10 21:51:00 Author:Phyllis From:SeekIC

Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) recently held the annual SSIA Summit. As a flagship event, the SSIA Summit is a gather of semiconductor industry leaders. Over 200 attendees including leaders of semiconductor companies, investors and industry analysts were on hand discussing Singapore’s vital role in the overall semiconductor industry and sharing business insights, industry happenings, and market projections.

This year’s SSIA Summit was themed on “Made for the World: The Singapore Silicon Imprint”. The event focused on how the emerging semiconductor ecosystem in Singapore is impacting the global semiconductor industry.

The Summit was opened by the president of SSIA describing the need for companies to work together during industry down turns as well as how SSIA facilitates this. In 2010, Singapore’s semiconductor industry enjoyed a booming year with full semiconductor fabs, experiencing a 26% growth of its electronics industry, which is about three times the global electronics industry growth. In 2011, fab utilization is dropping.

Another topic discussed is what may lay ahead and how the industry should respond. Excessive investment in inventory during expansion and economic slowdown are the way of life in this industry. The semiconductor industry is characterized by big market swings. In 2001, the swing was +69%. Now is a new swing. This is the first correction of this decade. This is the nature of the industry, and this is business as usual. It was predicted that Q3 will be flat (+/- 1%), Q4 will slow a slight decline (-1/-2%) with total year growth of 1% as compared with growth of 2010 +32%. This results in a year-on-year swing of +31% from 2010 to 2011. Pistorio described expectations for 2012 as including a low first half, followed growth of +8% and 2013 growth of 22%. The industry will reach the elusive $400 billion mark in 2013.

About how the industry should react to this upcoming down turn, there are four crucial steps for companies to take. The first one is don’t panic. No across the board cuts, don’t stop strategic investment. The second step is push R/D. R/D must be accelerated, not slowed down. The third one, go shopping. Strong companies should buy distressed assets. Buy competitors. Lastly, communicate. Management team must step ut communications to employees the customers.

The meeting also discussed the continued transformation of Singapore’s semiconductor industry. Singapore capabilities include an entire ecosystem with a complete supply base in Singapore. Growth is a critical objective to the Singapore government as electronics is largest contributor to the Singapore GDP. Electronics make up 7% of Singapore’s GDP, with semiconductors at 4.6%.

Singapore’s fables semiconductor environment is unique, Singapore has the pieces of a complete ecosystem to enable unfair advantages to semiconductor start ups. Singapore is also unique in that it is the only semiconductor center in the world that does not create its own semiconductor companies, and addressing this is tremendous growth opportunity for Singapore.

Singapore plays a pivotal role in the global semiconductor industry as many of the world’s leading fables semiconductor companies have operations in Singapore, including Broadcom, Marvell, and MediaTek.

About Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association

Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) is the voice of Singapore’s semiconductor industry. SSIA members today include companies and organizations throughout all parts of the complex and comprehensive value chain: IC design companies, Manufacturers, Fabless companies, Equipment suppliers, Photovoltaic companies, EDA and material suppliers, Training and service providers, IP companies, Research institutes and Academia, as well as individual members. The association started in 2005 under the name MIDAS and is operating with an extended charter under the new name SSIA since early 2010.

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