Some firms within Singapore's semiconductor industry are looking into laying off staff while others are freezing headcounts as the trade war between China and the United States exacts its toll. There is no talk of mass retrenchments for now, but outputs have been hit.

While factories here typically produce at up to 80 per cent of their capacity at this time of the year, some are now running at about 20 percentage points below that, said Mr Ang Wee Seng, executive director of the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA). But this does not usually lead to job cuts, he added.