Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association Launched The First Semiconductor Women’s Forum

Diversity Is Key To Address Challenges Facing Semiconductor Industry

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 11 March
2021 – The Inaugural Semiconductor Women’s Forum in Singapore was
launched at Conrad Centennial Singapore today in a hybrid format. Organised by the Singapore
Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) and supported by e2i, Workforce
Singapore and Global Semiconductor Alliance, the event aimed to attract more
female talents to join the semiconductor sector, and inspire the current
female workforce to stay and thrive in the industry. The
event attracted over 700 participants (both on-site and online) from more than 100
corporates and organisations worldwide. Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development, attended the event as the Guest of Honour.

Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development, graced the first Singapore Semiconductor Women’s Forum.

The semiconductor industry
in Singapore remains a male-dominant industry even though female leadership
contributes tremendously in corporate sectors worldwide, as recognised by
global studies. A survey ‘GSA: Women in the Semiconductor Industry’ conducted
by GSA and Accenture in 2019 and 2020 showed a significant under-representation
of females with the highest in leadership and technical roles in the industry.

Supporting female employees
during pandemic

The recent growth and
consequent shortages in semiconductors have highlighted how critical the
semiconductor industry is in providing the building blocks of the products and
services that impact the way we live, how we work, and the way we enjoy our
leisure.

SSIA Chairman Andrew Chong
said diversity is key to address these urgent needs in a responsible manner. “The
industry strongly needs more talents to deliver the vibrancy, agility and
sustainability necessary for success in this field during the pandemic. The
significant investments in building a more flexible and empathetic workplace
will greatly help retain and attract employees, and nurture a culture in which
women have equal opportunity to achieve their potential in a meaningful career,”
said Andrew in his welcome speech. He said companies have increased their
efforts in creating diversified and inclusive working environments. Some of
them have also established Women Network Chapters within their organizations to
encourage and support their employees.

Insights from women leaders
in the industry

Five reputable
female leaders who have excelled in the semiconductor industry shared their
inspirational career journeys at the Semiconductor Women’s Forum, including Jennifer
Zhao, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Optical
Sensors Division, ams AG, Siah Soh Yun, Technology Development
Vice President, GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF), Sim Cher Whee, Vice
President, Global Talent Acquisition and Talent Mobility, Micron, Jaya
Jagadish, Corporate Vice President- Silicon Design Engineering &
Country Head — India, AMD, and Olivia Koentjoro, Director of
Intellectual Property Analytics Center of Excellence, Global Law Department, Applied
Materials.

“In
2013,  GF established the GLOBALWOMEN
(GW)  network with a mission to create a
sustainable framework for the professional development of women at GF. GW is a
vital part of our inclusive culture and has now evolved into an alliance that
includes women and men who actively work as allies for women employees. There
is a strong need for corporates to place ‘balance for better’ as a priority by
institutionalizing support groups on mentoring and professional development of
women engineers,” said Soh Yun from GF.

“Applied
Materials sponsors Women Professional Development Network (WPDN), which fosters
diversity and inclusion and aims to build a progressive, fair and equitable
working environment within Applied.  WPDN
is active in promoting engagement and retention of female talents and acting as
a development platform for future Applied female leaders,” said Olivia from
Applied Materials.

“Micron is utilising new tools to promote diversity in talent
acquisition and reinforce Micron’s inclusive culture, such as modifying job descriptions
to weed out unconscious gender bias, using AI to reduce bias in candidate
applications, and ensuring interviewing teams are also diverse. The post COVID era of
leadership and innovation calls for a strong sense of purpose and empathy, and
we are defining our new normal,” said Cher Whee from Micron.

In the coming months, SSIA will roll out more events and
activities to create a vibrant environment for its workforce. For more details
of coming talent development initiatives for the electronics and semiconductor
industry, please visit https://ssia.org.sg/jobs