S'pore and other tech hubs face fallout as Washington tightens curbs on chips

US President Donald Trump is this week reportedly considering tighter rules on advanced chips to China, which could further bifurcate semiconductor supply chains along geopolitical blocs, and choke off the tap to economies like Singapore that act as nodes in the long and complicated chips value chain.

- Lin Suling Senior Columnist

"In a more polarised world, Singapore's access to high-end technology could be at risk," Dr Michael Raska, an assistant professor in military studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, says.

"Our open and highly connected economy, a strength in an era of globalisation, may now be a vulnerability as the superpowers raise trade barriers and controls in a bid to stem leakage and diversions," he adds.

News reports of a US probe into whether China may have circumvented US restrictions on advanced Nvidia chips by buying them from third parties in other countries, including Singapore, recently put the Republic under the spotlight.

It is a sobering reminder that the global economic order, premised on open markets and multinationals spreading their supply chains across the world, will face greater stress as geopolitics and national security take centre stage, with US-China competition becoming a defining feature.

Key nodes in high-tech sectors will come under greater scrutiny and face increasing risk of collateral damage.

Singapore is particularly susceptible to a US-China tech confrontation, as host to a series of activities in the chips value chain – from research and development to testing and manufacturing.

The Republic's additional roles as a key transshipment hub along major sea lanes of communication and an attractive business hub for over 7,000 multinationals, with more than half making it their regional headquarters, mean more points of vulnerability.

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The curbs reportedly under consideration by the Trump administration include further restrictions on the type and quantity of artificial intelligence (AI) chips that can be exported without a licence, and the addition of more Chinese firms to a list of trade entities that cannot receive US tech, goods and services without special US government approval.