National Semiconductor in Singapore
The first microelectronics firm, National Semiconductor (Pte.) Ltd.[1] in corporation with the Engineering Industries Development Agency of the EDB set up operations in the new building located at 179, River Valley Road in December 1968. It was owned and managed by National Semiconductor Corporation of Santa Clara, California.[2] NS was located on the second floor of the building where it held a two-year lease.[3]
In 1975, NS planned for a diversification of products, manufacturing electronic watches by the installation and employment of expensive machinery which would generate higher skills among workers. This decision was set as there was a rising demand for them in Europe and Asia.[4] The Adult Education Board conducted intensive English courses for staff at NS in August 1975. [5]
NS Penang was assured by the US home office in January 1977 that no lay-offs would happen as a challenging time in the next few months was anticipated.[6] In the following month, NS Electronics, a part of National Semiconductor group, produced electronic watch modules or parts of digital watches and it was among the biggest factories.[7]
In October 1978, an Itel Advanced System (AS-5), one of the largest computer system in Southeast Asia, has been installed in the Data Centre of National Semiconductor (NS Electronics), manufactured in the US by NS Corporation, the computer used many of the integrated circuits assembled by NS plants in Asia. Mr. Cass Rollins, then director of Management Information Systems for Asia and the Pacific, stated that the installation of the AS-5 would significantly increase company’s ability to provide timely management controls and reports on the manufacture of components in the company’s Southeast-Asian headquarters. Itel Corporation of San Francisco was the marketing and service arm of NS and it had a subsidiary, Itel Singapore. [8] On September 23, the AS-5 computer was installed at NS Electronics in Lower Delta Road. The computer was manufactured in the US, but its integrated circuits or chips were assembled and tested at NS Electronics Singapore.[9]
Approaching the 1980s, the idea of using microprocessors in homes as well as in the factories was propagated. NS, besides Fairchild and SGS-Ates, was producing microprocessors by end 1979.[10] Feb 1980, NS was one of the selected companies to be the first beneficiaries of the Skills Development Fund (SDF), of which the received grants were used for training schemes jointly organised with the Vocational and industrial Training Board (VITB) which included an apprenticeship training scheme to train 20 electronics technicians.[11] This move was an attempt by NS in upskilling its employees as it pursued more sophisticated production techniques. [12] In March 1980, NS invested $25-30 million in testing equipment for its new factory in Ang Mo Kio, in line with the parent company’s goal to have about 80% of all testing operations done in Singapore. Over the years, simpler assemblies were gradually transferred to subsidiaries in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. In contrast, Singapore was planned to take the role in corporate strategy and become the nerve centre of Southeast Asian operations, for the next few years.[13] On 30 September 1980, the NS group set up the National Semiconductor Asia Pacific (NSAP), linked to all plants excluding the plant in Indonesia and the sales office in Australia. to provide management services to its manufacturing plants and sales office in Asian and Australasian region.[14]
In January 1988, NS and Fairchild merged their operations forming a single entity. The tie-up of the NS plant in Lower Delta Road and the Fairchild plant in Toa Payoh, as the result of NS buying over Fairchild in the US last October, had 3,800 employees in total. The final reorganisation of the Singapore operations took 3-9 months to complete. The company continued to put in high technology equipment in its facilities. Both the Singapore plants make electronic components which are complementary. The NS products were used in computers, engineering workstations and process control equipment, while Fairchild was a leading firm producing components with military applications. One of the effects of the reorganisation was in terms of the management. Mr Tan Bock Seng led the combined Singapore manufacturing operations of both plants, while Mr Ron Ho picked up a new role as APAC regional director for manufacturing services, covering both companies in the Philippines, South Korea and Japan as well as NS in Malaysia and Thailand. These new appointments reflected a move towards a single management for both companies in Singapore.[15]
[1] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19681218-1.2.27
[2] https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/PressR19681217c.pdf
[3] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19690514-1.2.80
[4] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19750307-1.2.26
[5] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/newnation19750802-1.2.7.4
[6] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19770111-1.2.65
[7] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19770209-1.2.45
[8] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19781010-1.2.12.3
[9] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19781107-1.2.49
[10] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19791115-1.2.157.22
[11] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19800625-1.2.55
[12] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19800202-1.2.4
[13] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19800319-1.2.12.3
[14] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19800930-1.2.12.1
[15] https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19880107-1.2.24.25