Singapore companies eye growing opportunities in India's semiconductor sector

People-to-people and business ties strengthening as India races to build chip supply chain

- Nirmala Ganapathy India Bureau Chief

Singaporean Subra Darma is pining for chwee kueh, a hawker favourite, and missing family and friends after moving to India more than a month ago to drive sales for his company, Akribis Systems, which is looking for opportunities in India’s growing but nascent semiconductor sector.

Based in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, Mr Darma, India sales director for Akribis Systems India, is adjusting to new food, long commutes and the lack of social support, but remains optimistic about the opportunities ahead.

“It’s very difficult to be efficient as a lot of time is wasted because of travelling,” he admitted.

“But business-wise, it’s very exciting. Akribis has been focused on semiconductors since we started. Now we see in India the kind of opportunity that China had 10 to 15 years ago. The difference is, it’s going to happen much faster here.”

Founded in 2004, Akribis Systems makes high-precision direct-drive motors and precision systems, apart from offering custom solutions for the wafer manufacturing process and testing of chips in the electronics manufacturing and semiconductor industries.

While the company has been operating in India for three years, mainly supplying the mobile phone sector and other industries, it is now tying up with local Indian partners to assemble motors and build equipment for back-end chip testing.

“We have identified some of the local companies,” said Mr Darma.

INDIA-SINGAPORE SEMICONDUCTOR LINKS DEEPEN

People-to-people and business ties between India and Singapore are strengthening as India races to build a semiconductor supply chain.

Several Singapore-based companies, some of which already have manufacturing operations, are firming up partnerships in the semiconductor sector.

Chips power everything from smartphones and laptops to cars and military systems, with the US$627 billion (S$802 billion) global industry projected to exceed US$1 trillion by 2030.