SINGAPORE – Plans are afoot to push the use of
artificial intelligence
across four key sectors on a national scale to unlock Singapore’s competitive advantage.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in his Feb 12 Budget 2026 speech that he will front a new inter-ministerial committee to drive the execution of
AI missions
in advanced manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and connectivity and logistics.
To fully realise AI’s potential, Singapore needs to move beyond individual pilots and isolated experiments, said PM Wong. “We must organise at a national level, and move with speed and scale,” he said.
The Straits Times examines the current AI projects in these four sectors, where the
gaps in deployment
are and what a national level of implementation in each of these sectors might look like.
AI is often used for predictive maintenance to forecast when machines are likely to fail so repairs can be carried out before breakdowns disrupt production.
Predictive maintenance systems typically analyse real-time data from sensors, tracking factors such as vibration, temperature and equipment performance to identify patterns that indicate potential faults.
Professor Stefan Winkler from Singapore Institute of Technology’s (SIT) engineering cluster said: “These tools are sometimes deployed for individual machines, or perhaps a production line, rather than across entire supply chains, limiting productivity gains.”
For example, semiconductor foundry GlobalFoundries deploys the technology in its 300mm semiconductor fabrication plant in Woodlands.
Separately, A*Star and the Ministry of Trade and Industry have been operating a Sectoral AI Centre of Excellence for Manufacturing since September 2024 to help the industry tap AI for purposes such as predictive maintenance, product design and industrial automation. Thirteen companies, including drinks producer Coca-Cola and tech manufacturer Philips, were working with the centre at launch.
Mr Zavier Wong, market analyst at Israel-headquartered online trading platform eToro, said that machines that perform predictive maintenance can be linked to systems that manage production scheduling and the procurement of spare parts.
So even before a manufacturing plant breaks down or receives scheduled maintenance, other plants can automatically take over the production. A linked procurement system can also automatically order the necessary spare parts for repair.
