[SAN FRANCISCO] Singapore companies hoping to tap the innovation ecosystem in the San Francisco Bay Area to expand into the US will be able to get support from a new office set up there by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG).

EnterpriseSG unveiled its San Francisco Overseas Centre in the Californian city – its third such office in the US – on Tuesday (Nov 14).

This brings the agency’s overseas centres to 37 in 23 countries. In the US, it also has offices in New York and Los Angeles.

The opening was officiated by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is on a six-day working visit to the US to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

“The launch of the San Francisco Overseas Centre marks a step-up in our engagement on the West Coast,” he said, thanking the US government and California state government for their “strong support”.

The bilateral economic relationship between the US and Singapore is strong, said PM Lee, with many Singaporeans partnering their American counterparts across sectors such as biomedical, food manufacturing and transportation.

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The Bay Area has been “an important region for promising Singaporean startups to meet strategic partners, and gain backing that can elevate them to the global stage”, he added.

“Here in the Bay Area, we have been nurturing such relationships for many years,” he said. “We enjoy a good level of cooperation today, but I’m confident it can be even better.”

The opening of the San Francisco office comes amid a more complex global environment, where free trade and economic welfare are at risk of being overshadowed by strategic and security concerns.

“But we are hopeful that despite this trend, America will maintain, and even strengthen, its relationship with Asia and the rest of the world,” said PM Lee.

This is because big countries still need to do business and trade, not only for collective prosperity, “but also because trade is an important facet of international cooperation and peace”.

“For our American friends seeking opportunities in Singapore, or in the vibrant and growing Asia-Pacific region, our message to you is this: Singapore is wide open for business,” he said, adding that the Republic’s economic agencies will be “more than happy” to work with them.

EnterpriseSG chief executive Lee Chuan Teck, who was at the opening, said San Francisco was chosen as the third location for its overseas centres because of the “very rich innovation ecosystem” in the Bay Area.

“A number of Singapore companies are already here – tapping into the technology, talent and capital of the region,” he said. “We want to build bridges so that even more Singapore companies can land and grow here.”

The US is Singapore’s third-largest goods trading partner. Bilateral goods trade grew by close to 8 per cent per annum over the last five years to S$132.7 billion in 2022.

It is also the city-state’s largest partner in services trade, which grew by 18 per cent per annum to S$125.2 billion in 2021, from S$64 billion in 2017.

Beyond trade, EnterpriseSG said it noted a 23 per cent increase in companies exploring or entering the US market over the last five years.

There are currently close to 200 Singapore companies with a business presence in the US, in sectors such as healthcare, fintech, consumer tech, manufacturing, food services and retail.

Manufacturing opportunities

EnterpriseSG’s Lee said the San Francisco office will be involved in activities beyond the innovation ecosystem, and that Singapore companies have also expressed interest in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, transportation and logistics.

In particular, EnterpriseSG’s executive director for the Americas and Europe Clarence Hoe told The Business Times that the agency also sees opportunities for manufacturers to expand in the US, noting that Singapore’s exports of advanced manufacturing products to the US grew by close to 8 per cent per annum from 2018 to 2022.

With US companies now looking to enhance resilience in supply chain and local manufacturing capacity, this creates opportunities for Singapore manufacturers to support the growing manufacturing clusters in aerospace, medical technology and semiconductor, said Hoe.

He added that there is a growing demand by US manufacturers for automation, Industry 4.0 solutions and robotics to increase their quality and speed-to-market.

Singapore manufacturers, he said, have been leveraging many of these new technologies, which enable them to complement the manufacturing ecosystem in the US.

“It is beneficial for tech providers to be present in the US to be near to potential clients, especially the engineering and R&D (research and development) teams,” he said.

He noted that there are various ways for Singapore companies to collaborate with US partners, such as extending support to their US clients as a supplier for their needs in the US.

Another approach is to work with them to co-develop or innovate new products customised for the market. EnterpriseSG can provide support in identifying suitable original equipment manufacturers, or first or second-tier suppliers as partners, said Hoe.

“Epicentre of the tech world”

Semiconductor equipment maker AEM Holdings is hoping to leverage EnterpriseSG’s San Francisco office to cultivate new customer relationships and forge technology partnerships.

The Singapore company currently has R&D operations in San Diego, California, as well as R&D, prototyping and engineering operations in Tempe, Arizona.

AEM chief executive Chandran Nair said the Bay Area is “arguably the epicentre of the technology world”, and represents the company’s target customer base in semiconductors, electronics, cable and networks.

“With most of our engineering workforce situated in Singapore, we aim to collaborate with EnterpriseSG to facilitate engineering secondments from Singapore to our offices in the United States,” he said.

Ahead of the opening of EnterpriseSG’s new office, PM Lee made a trip to visit two of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley – Google and Apple.

At Apple Park in Cupertino, PM Lee and Apple CEO Tim Cook exchanged views and reiterated the good partnership that Apple has with Singapore, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

During his visit to Googleplex, PM Lee was given a briefing on various artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technology projects that Google and its parent company Alphabet are working on, said PMO.

He is also scheduled to meet Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai later this week.

In the evening, PM Lee attended a reception with about 500 overseas Singaporeans living in the Bay Area held at The Westin San Francisco Airport.

He noted that Singapore and the US – one of the Republic’s oldest friends – have had many business dealings and people-to-people exchanges but ultimately, the two countries are “not quite the same”.

“We are a tiny country in the middle of a very complicated part of the world. They (US) are a huge continent, the greatest power on earth now. Naturally (the US will) have a different perspective on what’s happening all over the world, which they have to be concerned with,” he said.

“But it doesn’t stop us from working together, from getting to do many things together and to benefit each other through our relationship and friendship, and you are an important part of that – 2,000 of you around the Bay Area.”

He urged them to continue showing others what Singaporeans are capable of, while keeping their links back home and staying in touch with what is happening.