New ambassador programme to draw young talent to semiconductor industry 

TO attract more young talent to Singapore’s semiconductor sector, major companies will mentor young ambassadors one-on-one in a new programme launched on Tuesday (Jan 17) at Electronics Industry Day, an industry event organised by the Semiconductor Industry Association.

This Semiconductor Active Youth programme will see leaders of “queen bee” companies – such as AMD, ams Osram, and GlobalFoundries Singapore – hold one-on-one mentoring sessions with selected youth ambassadors, as well as build interest through activities and community building.

The hope is for the youth ambassadors to encourage more of their peers to join the semiconductor sector upon graduation.

During the event, held at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central, SSIA and ITE also signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen collaboration in this area. Over the next five years, both sides will organise joint events such as company visits and industry seminars to attract more youths to enrol in electronics courses and receive quality training and mentorship.

 These initiatives address one of SSIA’s top priorities of building a robust pipeline of talent in the electronics sector, said the industry body’s executive director Ang Wee Seng. 

SSIA chairman Jennifer Teong said: “The shortage of semiconductor talent is a perennial problem everywhere,”

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“In Singapore, we are expecting to create about 2,000 jobs in the next three to five years to support the ever-growing demand of chips”, she added.

Companies in the industry are going to continue hiring aggressively into 2025, fuelled by the acceleration of digitalisation, disruptive new technologies, and innovations which have semiconductors at their core, said SSIA. 

Chief executive of ITE Low Khah Gek said: “This partnership supports the development of our students as skilled talents for the electronics industry, by broadening industry exposure and workplace learning opportunities for them.”

“It also reinforces our efforts to develop work-ready graduates who can contribute effectively to the future economy,” she added.