For subscribers
Why can’t Singapore nurture its own Samsung?
Singapore mastered the art of attracting multinational corporations. Can it turn research, capital and talent into home-grown global technology companies?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
South Korea has pulled ahead of Singapore in terms of producing global technology champions like Samung, says the writer.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Tan Bien Kiat
Singapore’s economic story is often told as a journey from Third World to First. Under Lee Kuan Yew and the first generation of leaders, the country moved from a trading port and low-cost manufacturing base, once centred on garments, low-end electronics and labour-intensive industries, into a sophisticated economy known for high-value manufacturing, finance, logistics, biomedical sciences, petrochemicals, engineering and semiconductors.
In the 1980s, Singapore stood with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan as one of the four Asian Tigers. Today, two peers have leapt ahead differently: they have built technology and manufacturing champions that control the most critical parts of high-tech production stack.
