Singapore's digital economy hits 19.3% of GDP as AI spreads beyond tech
Source: Techgoondu
IMDA's annual report puts Singapore's digital economy at S$144.1 billion, or 19.3 per cent of GDP, with AI adoption surging among SMEs and tech wages well above the national median.
Singapore's digital economy climbed to S$144.1 billion last year, equal to 19.3 per cent of GDP, according to IMDA's latest annual report. That is up from 18.8 per cent in 2024, a rise the agency ties squarely to artificial intelligence reshaping how local businesses run.
Look past the headline and the growth sits outside the infocomm and media industries. Non-I&C players supplied over two-thirds of the total, with digitalisation adding S$97 billion in nominal value, a 3.6 per cent lift. The I&C sector itself climbed 6.1 per cent to S$47.1 billion.
Hiring followed the same momentum. Technology jobs totalled 222,200, up 3.8 per cent, though non-I&C employers added staff at 5.3 per cent versus just 1.8 per cent inside the sector. AI, data and cybersecurity are the fastest-expanding specialities, and pay is strong: resident tech workers earned a median S$8,000 a month, 60 per cent above the S$5,000 median for all resident workers.
Adoption is now near-universal. Some 96.4 per cent of enterprises use at least one of six digital areas, spanning cloud, cybersecurity, e-payments, e-commerce, analytics and AI, and SMEs sit at 95.1 per cent. AI uptake among smaller firms leapt to 23.4 per cent from 14.5 per cent, while large local enterprises rose from 62.5 per cent to 70.4 per cent. Two in five adopters are already scaling up or fully embedded.
Workers are embracing the tools too: 86 per cent now say they use AI on the job, against 78 per cent a year earlier. Among them, 73 per cent report productivity gains, 69 per cent better quality and 68 per cent sharper problem-solving; 60 per cent of time-savers reclaim up to an hour daily. Yet desire outstrips opportunity, with 68 per cent wanting reskilling while just 37 per cent trained in the past year, held back by weak employer backing or time pressure. IMDA is widening its TechSkills Accelerator to reach 40,000 tech professionals within three years, while the National AI Impact Programme targets 100,000 people for sector-specific AI skills by 2029, starting with accountancy and law.
Why it matters for Singapore: AI has shifted from pilot projects to the backbone of the city-state's growth, and SMEs, not just big tech, are driving adoption. IMDA's training drive signals that skills, rather than capital, are now treated as the binding constraint. For employers here, the takeaway is blunt: tech pay stays rich and the talent shortage bites hardest outside the traditional tech sector.
