“All these big boys are paying so much subsidies to attract high end semiconductor production in their respective homes and we cannot afford to outbid, we cannot afford to get into a subsidies arms race, but we do whatever we can to provide a conducive environment.” Wong said at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore on Wednesday. The city-state “can be competitive in specialty chips,” he added.
The US, EU and Japan are all offering billions in incentives in the hope of luring global chipmakers including TSMC to build advanced plants on their turfs, yet few countries have adequate infrastructure and supply chain to support the operations of fabs that can produce cutting-edge semiconductors powering emerging technologies including artificial intelligence applications.
At the same time, Wong who also serves as finance minister, cautioned against foreign money flowing into the city-state’s property market and making housing unaffordable for Singaporeans.