Chip players in Singapore looking forward to 2009

Singapore - According to a new survey, Singapore's 2009 potential for growth in the semiconductor industry is optimistic, said members of local semiconductor industry association Midas.

Ulf Schneider, president of Midas and vice president at Infineon Technologies Asia Pacific said, "The industry gave a very positive outlook for the year ahead and is looking towards further growth and development, with a lot of energy in the market."

This finding comes as a pleasant surprise to industry players in Singapore, especially after an earlier report from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) predicted weak demands for chips in the second half of this year.

In the report, MTI also mentioned that the electronics manufacturing cluster was stagnant during the second quarter of 2008, growing at 0.2% due to weak demand worldwide.

Zainudin Nordin, mayor of the central Singapore district said "to ride out the [unstable] market, semiconductor industry players must relook [their] strategy of cooperation".

"Singapore has a lot to learn from other established players in the region too. When we compare ourselves to Taiwan [and] South Korea, there are a lot of things we can improve on," said Nordin.