Siemens President & CEO Roland Busch on Singapore: “It’s a good place to invest”

German multinational tech conglomerate Siemens recently announced a €2 billion global investment strategy to ramp up manufacturing capacity, innovation and R&D to target high-growth markets.

The investment includes a new €200 million plant in Singapore to serve rising demand in Southeast Asia. The plant will set a new standard for connectivity and feature highly-automated manufacturing processes to improve efficiency and productivity.

Watch the video to hear President & CEO of Siemens AG, Roland Busch, explain why Singapore is playing a starring role in Siemens’ strategy to boost growth, drive innovation and increase resilience.
 

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Why Singapore?

For Busch, there are several factors. Singapore is stable and has a pro-business environment that is in compliance with global standards. The country has highly-skilled talent and has Free Trade Agreements with all Asian countries.
 

1. Pro-business environment

Singapore has been consistently ranked as having the world’s best business environment.¹ Many international businesses call Singapore home – with the country’s stability, transparent tax regime and compliance with global standards supporting the centralisation of complex and multi-jurisdictional activities.

 Singapore is one of the world’s most connected countries and is a gateway to Southeast Asia.

• Changi Airport serves more than 100 airlines flying to about 80 countries and territories globally. Over 68 million passengers passed through the airport in 2017, with this figure reaching 32 million in 2022.
• Singapore is linked to 600 ports in over 120 countries globally, with 200 shipping lines passing through our waters. More than 130,000 ships call at Singapore.
• Singapore is 1st in Asia for ICT infrastructure, has the fastest fixed broadband speed in the world, with 5G coverage reaching more than 95 per cent of the country to-date.
   

2. Highly Skilled Talent

Singapore’s strong local talent pool has been shaped by ongoing investment in education and talent development. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects are priorities in the education system. From 2015 to 2020, the government invested over $1 billion in continuing education, including co-funding skills upgrading programmes. SkillsFuture, a nationwide movement to promote lifelong learning, offers a range of programmes to support students, early and mid-career professionals in ensuring they have future-ready skillsets.

To boost its attractiveness to global talent, Singapore has rolled out hiring policies and schemes designed to support businesses looking to expand in the region – from the Overseas Networks & Expertise Pass (a five-year pass for top talent) to Tech@SG, that facilitates employment passes for fast-growing companies seeking global talent to scale up in Asia.

The country has been ranked 1^st in Asia and 12^th in the world for talent competitiveness by Swiss business school IMD.
 

3. Extensive FTA network

Singapore has more than 27 free trade agreements (FTA) and is also a part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest FTA, comprising about 30 per cent of global GDP and about a third of the world’s population. The city-state’s trade connections provide companies with access to large and growing markets regionally, while also reducing trade barriers and increasing investment protection.

With increasing digitalisation, Singapore has also inked several Digital Economy Agreements with countries like Australia and the UK to develop frameworks that can foster interoperability of systems and standards, supporting businesses that engage in digital trade and e-commerce.

So what is Siemens going to produce in Singapore?

One of the key areas of focus for Siemens in Singapore is its SIMATIC portfolio, which includes industrial automation systems and software used in a variety of industries, including automotive, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and more.

Siemens’ manufacturing site in Singapore will be an agile manufacturing site that can produce any variant of SIMATIC controllers, and will be designed and operated digitally.
 

Sources: ¹ Economist Intelligence Unit