Singapore’s precision engineering industry saw an output of S$22.3 billion (about 10 per cent to the total manufacturing output) in 2008. The industry’s value added was S$6.7 billion for that year.
The precision engineering industry employed 101,000 people in 2008, i.e. 25 per cent of the total manufacturing workforce. It is made up of some 2,700 companies, ranging from SMEs to large MNCs.
Singapore’s unique strengths in precision engineering are the key reasons for its global leadership. For example, Singapore accounts for more than 10 per cent of the global output for backend semiconductor equipment. In addition, the strong precision engineering capabilities in Singapore have attracted 9 of the top 10 wafer fabrication equipment companies to procure significantly from local based suppliers.
Singapore manufactures wafer inspection tools, which are engineered to identify nano-scale defects. This is comparable in magnitude to spotting a strand of white hair on the ground from about 2,000 feet above - or about four times the height of the Singapore Flyer.
