Computer and telecommunications
hardware
Singapore's production of data storage devices such as disk drives, floppy drives, and CD-ROM's is thriving and now accounts for nearly half of the global total. When looking specifically at disk drives, Singapore is the worlds largest producer of hard disk drives and is responsible for over half of the global output in this area alone. Domestic exports of disk drives in 1992 reached S$8 billion which accounted for 11% of GDP.
Singapore is also competitive in exporting major telecommunications products that continue to have positive annual growth rates. These products include telephone sets with a 15% growth rate, telephone switchboards with a 30% growth rate, fax machines with a 5% growth rate, T.V. cameras with a 10% growth rate, and parts of T.V. and radio receivers growing at a rate of 25%
Singapore's telecommunications trade takes place with five main countries with the top country being Japan. The countries and the amount of telecommunications products they import from Singapore are discussed below (numbers are in US dollars).
In 1994, Japan imported $1723.2 million dollars of telecommunications products from Singapore which was up from $1411.7 million in 1993. Malaysia is Singapore's second largest export market for telecommunications products with a 1994 market of $1665.9, up from $1309.7 million in 1993. The United States ranks third with 1994 exports from Singapore totaling $320.3, up from $271.4 in 1993. Coming in forth is Taiwan with a 1994 total of $245.6 which was up considerably from a 1993 total of $164.8. The fifth largest telecommunications products export market for Singapore is Thailand. In 1994 total exports totaled $175.7 up from $138.7 in 1993.
Software and services
The amount of software exported by Singapore has increased over the years with a 228% change between 1991 and 1992. This growth is enormous but despite this fact, some feel the software market will never be a mass producer of software. For more on this visit Computer Hardware and Software in Singapore.
In 1994 IT services made up 15% of total industry sales which was down 1% from 1993. IT services in Singapore have a larger share of the domestic market (21.3%) compared with the export market (7%). Professional services on the island nation make up 57% of IT service sales. Database/information service and IT training/education are also on the increase and currently make up 21% of total IT services (NCB-Singapore IT Survey Report, online).
Exports in dollarsIn 1991, Singapore IT exports totaled $7,706,500. These exports included such things as mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers (desktop and others), terminals, disk drives, printers, components, and software. In 1992, total IT exports rose 40% to $10,841,100 which was 24% of GDP (East Asian Executive Reports, p20).
The export market has continued to grow faster than the domestic market at 36.3% compared with 33.5% growth in the domestic market in 1994. In 1993, the difference between export and domestic markets was even larger with growth rates of 42.3% and 11.4% respectively. In 1994, the export market made up 44.2% of total IT sales in Singapore which shows that this market depends heavily on exports to continue being successful. If demand for IT products and services declines in other parts of the world, the growth and success of Singapore's IT market may diminish.
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