Figures are in millions of US$. The statistics are unofficial estimates

Singapore is a mature and sophisticated market for IT products and services. According to the 2006 survey carried out by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, 77% of Singaporean households owned at least one home computer and almost 9 in 10 households with school-going children had access to a home computer. Seventy-one percent of households had home Internet access and in these homes, almost all (97%) used computers as the mode of access while 9% used Internet-enabled cell phones. Usage of computers was 100% in businesses with more than 250 employees but the usage level declined to 62% for companies with fewer than 10 employees. Usage of infocomm network technologies was similarly higher for larger companies.
Singapore’s domestic market for computer hardware and software amounted to US$3.7 billion in 2006, according to the IDA’s Annual Survey on the Infocomm Industry for 2006.
Best Products/Services
Best prospects include application software, security solutions, and government projects. The Singapore market is very dependent on imports and multinational corporations located on the island to provide for its IT requirements. U.S. products are traditionally well received in Singapore as the United States is seen as the source for state-of-the-art technologies. Singapore also acts as a major distribution center for companies interested in selling to the region as reflected by re-export data. More than two-thirds of computer hardware and software imported into Singapore are re-exported to third countries in Asia.
Opportunities

Singapore presents a lucrative and expanding market for U.S. companies that would like to provide IT goods and services to the public sector. The government continues to aggressively implement and adopt infocomm technology while it has already won significant recognition for its e-governance, topping Accenture’s annual e-government survey in 2007. In FY2007 (April 2007 – March 2008), the Singapore government expects to issue S$730 million (US$480 million) worth of new IT tenders. As in previous years, it is expected to spend more than the estimated budget.
A major program under iGov2010 is a government-wide Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE) to be implemented by the 4th quarter of FY2010 across 60,000 seats and 87 different agencies. It will comprise a standard desktop operating environment, a standard messaging and collaboration environment, and a standard network environment. On June 21, 2007, four pre-qualified consortia submitted bids for the SOE, all of which include one or more U.S.-based companies. The final contract, estimated to be worth S$1.5 billion (US$1 billion) over eight years, is expected to be awarded in 2008.
Call for collaborations (CFC) were launched to spur IT initiatives in certain sectors of the Singapore economy.
•
In healthcare, a CFC - the second for the sector - was launched to identify solutions that will improve the quality of healthcare delivery and efficiency in Singapore’s public and private healthcare institutions.
•
Within the transport sector, a CFC was launched to bring together the seaport community and solution providers to develop and launch innovative content and applications on WISEPORT. WISEPORT (Wireless-broadband-access at SEaPORT) is a project to deploy a WiMAX network that will cover Singapore’s port waters and surrounding coastal areas.
•
In the digital media and entertainment arena, the IDA invited industry players to submit information and concept proposals for a program to harness Virtual Worlds technologies to realize the iN2015 Digital Media and Entertainment vision.
•
In education, the IDA is working with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to transform the educational experience through the FutureSchools@Singapore project. The FutureSchools are a group of schools that will leverage on state-of-the-art technologies and innovative school designs to develop innovative curriculum, pedagogies and assessment programs.
•
In the tourism sector, the Digital Concierge initiative launched in June 2007 leveraged Singapore's new anytime-anywhere Internet Wi-Fi access or the available cellular network, to offer personalized and location-based services such as recommendations on where to go, where to eat and what to do.

According to the latest study by New York-based Access Market International (AMI) Partners Inc., small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Singapore are on track to spend as much as US$2 billion on information technology in 2008. The bulk of IT spending will come from three key sectors - professional services, retail/wholesale and manufacturing - which will account for over 60 per cent of overall IT spend in 2008. Since 2004, Singapore-based SMBs have been investing heavily in wireless connectivity solutions including wireless LAN (local area networks), VPN (virtual private networks) and WAN (wide area networks), according to AMI. Coupled with aggressive branch office plans, Singapore SMBs are looking to implement solutions that will enable them to keep in contact with remote locations while simplifying the management of inter-office moves and facilitating smooth employee relocations.
Las Vegas Sands and Malaysian conglomerate Genting are currently building two mega-billion integrated resorts in Singapore and information technology is a critical part of these two projects. There are therefore excellent opportunities for U.S. IT companies to participate in the two initiatives. Las Vegas Sands’ integrated resort includes a casino, hotels, restaurants, retail outlets, trade exhibition and convention space. Genting is building an integrated resort including a casino, hotels, restaurants, retail outlets and a Universal Studios theme park. The two resorts are expected to start operations in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Just outside the bar @ the Singapore Hotel where the Singapore Sling cocktail was invented