Singapore’s economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years in the second quarter as manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and electronics rebounded.
The government said yesterday that GDP rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier in the April-to-June quarter, accelerating from the 0.2 percent expansion in the first quarter, the trade ministry said in a statement.
That was the fastest growth since the third quarter of 2011 when the economy expanded 5.7 percent.
The growth in the GDP for the second quarter was also a sharp increase from the 1.8 percent quarter-on-quarter expansion in the first quarter.
The second quarter figure is an advance estimate based on activity in April and May, with updated data to be released next month.
Singapore’s growth is closely tied to overseas demand, making it a bellwether for global economic conditions.
Manufacturing grew 1.1 percent year-on-year in the second quarter after contracting 6.9 percent in the previous quarter. On a quarterly basis, manufacturing soared 37.6 percent in the second quarter, reversing a 12.7 percent fall in the preceding three months.
The construction sector, which had taken up the slack from manufacturing, slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year growth from 6.8 percent in the first quarter. On a quarterly basis, construction grew 9.0 percent from last quarter after a 14.3 percent growth in the preceding three months.
Service industries, which have become more important to the economy after the opening of two casino-resorts in the city-state, expanded 5 percent in the second quarter from the same period of last year and grew 9.0 percent quarter-on-quarter, faster than the 8.1 percent growth in the earlier quarter.
“The sharp rebound largely reflected the strong growth in the output of the biomedical and electronics clusters,” the trade ministry said in the statement.
Barclays Capital said in a report that Singapore’s exports have remained subdued despite higher industrial production, which suggests the final figure for the second quarter will be lower than the advance estimate.
The government expects the economy to grow between 1 percent and 3 percent this year.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS