The representative director of Japanese technology giant Showa Denko KK, Mr Kyohei Takahashi, was conferred national honours by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Tuesday for his contributions to Singapore.

During Mr Takahashi's tenure as president and chief executive officer of Showa Denko from 2005 to 2010, the firm doubled its manufacturing capacity for hard disk media here.

The company also expanded its research and development operations in Singapore, and invested about $1 billion in Singapore. Today, Singapore manufactures close to 50 per cent of the world's hard disk media.

Mr Takahashi, who is also the chairman of the board of directors at Showa Denko, said: "The successful partnership between Showa Denko and the Economic Development Board has underpinned the significant growth we have seen in Showa Denko's business activities in Singapore, where we currently have over 1,300 employees."