Singapore's Q2 Growth Exceeds Forecast as AI Demand Boosts Manufacturing

Singapore's economy grew 5.7% year over year in the second quarter, easing from 6.3% in the previous three months, according to advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Tuesday. The reading surpassed the consensus forecast of a 5.5% increase, as tracked by Investing.com. On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, gross domestic product expanded 1.1% in the second quarter, extending the 1.3% growth recorded in the first quarter. The goods-producing industries grew 10.4% from a year earlier, led by a 12.2% expansion in manufacturing, while construction growth slowed to 6.2% from 12.9% in the previous quarter. Manufacturing growth accelerated from 8.0% in the first quarter, driven by stronger output in the electronics and precision engineering clusters amid robust artificial intelligence-related demand for semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The ministry said manufacturing growth was "largely driven by output increases in the electronics and precision engineering clusters on account of strong AI-related demand for semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment." The chemicals and biomedical manufacturing clusters.