Singapore attracted a record S$16.1 billion (US$11.2 billion) in manufacturing commitments from investors last year, almost double that of the previous year, the government said yesterday.
Last year's record fixed asset investments (FAI) commitments exceeded the Economic Development Board's own target of between S$8.5 billion and S$9 billion, it said.
FAI refers to capital investments in facilities and equipment.
Despite signs of a slowing economy, the board said Singapore is confident of matching last year's figure. It said it was targeting manufacturing commitments that are worth between S$16 billion and S$18 billion this year.
"The consensus view is that there will be a slowdown by 2008," said Beh Swan Gin, the board's assistant managing director for planning and policy, at a media briefing.
"Nevertheless, the slate of projects that we have announced over the past few months for Singapore gives us a certain degree of confidence that the momentum that we achieved in 2007 will be continued in 2008," he said.
Elaborating on the board's optimism for this year, chairman Lim Siong Guan said many global companies take a long-term view when assessing investment plans.
"Quite frankly they do the assessment of what the longer-term trends are ... they assess their strategic needs to position themselves," he said.
The board said almost 400 projects were committed to last year. These are expected to create 28,600 jobs and add S$11.6 billion annually to Singapore's GDP when they are fully implemented.
Meanwhile, Singapore's government said it would take a "hands off" approach on investments made by its sovereign wealth funds in banks including Citigroup Inc amid the subprime meltdown, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.
Temasek Holdings Pte and Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) have invested about US$23 billion in UBS AG, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch & Co since last month as the banks turned to investors after record write-downs and losses.
Singapore wants the two funds, which each manages more than US$100 billion in assets, to pursue investments based on commercial reasons, rather than government directives, as sovereign wealth funds globally face more scrutiny. The city-state has tried to set itself apart by disclosing investment returns and some financial information on the funds.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
RSS