Infineon plans global AI innovation hub in Singapore

Singapore’s semiconductor industry received a big boost yesterday from Infineon Technologies, when it unveiled plans for a global artificial intelligence (AI) innovation hub in the Republic, as part of its transformation plans.

The German chipmaker will be upskilling its 1,000 employees in AI technologies and launch about 25 AI projects by 2023.

It will also be collaborating with local startups, institutes of higher learning and research institutions on new AI Solutions, it announced yesterday.

More than S$27 million for this effort has been budgeted, covering infrastructure, AI projects, workforce reskilling and collaborations. It will also collaborate with NUS-ISS and AI Singapore to offer AI courses and certifications.

This announcement was made at an event to mark the company’s 50^th anniversary here at its office in Kallang Sector.

Its Asia-Pacific president and managing director Chua Chee Seong, said: “Singapore is the first in Infineon worldwide to embark on a comprehensive AI journey for all our business and manufacturing operations, embedding AI into every job function.”

He added: “To help our employees on this digital transformation, we will be helping our staff develop a digital mindset and driving training programs while creating exciting opportunities and AI solutions with our ecosystem.”

In the media statement, Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss remarked that a key step in Singapore’s national strategy to become a smart nation is to develop impactful AI solutions.

“This fits well together with Infineon Singapore’s vision to make it an AI innovation hub and a key player for our AI strategy,” he added.

Infineon’s history began as Siemens, assembling discrete transistors and diodes, and passive components, before it was spun off as a separate company.

With about S$700 million invested here in the last decade, the company has become the lead site for smart factory solutions development and the global test hub for automotive microcontroller units.

It is also a key node for Infineon’s global distribution and a major microelectronics R&D centre in Asia.