Haze Vs Chips

So what works harder when the haze blows about and blankets Singapore?

The darling for the Singapore economy has been the electronics sector. It’s been expanding for 16 months in a row and the last Electronics Purchasing Managers’ Index EPMI was at 52.9 in September up from 52.6 in August. 

The electronics Non-oil Domestic Exports NODX was up 107% year-on-year in the same month. These numbers are unheard of in a regular economy in a mature first world economy.

They’re being driven by the demand for AI infrastructure, chips and the sort. The electronics industry makes up 40% of all Singapore manufacturing output and provides jobs to 20% of the available workforce.

That's 70k jobs. It’s important you can bet. And it's looking rosy for now, maybe slightly grey-tinted hazy.

A unique quirk for the electronics industry is that most things they put out are remarkably tiny, chips on boards I mean. And when tiny things are being put together, other tiny things can interfere. Even bad air.

Most semiconductor manufacturing requires ultra pure air. People have to wear PPE type suits to ensure they don’t contaminate environments to keep the quality of output up to scratch.

They measure the bad air in parts per million or billion, and there are ISO standards for Class 1 cleanrooms requiring fewer than 10 particles per cubic meter larger than 0.1 microns.

The bad air is likely causing some worry among the folks in charge of the HVAC, air filtration systems, and production quality control at these companies. Just like how dust accumulates more at home, the same pesky pollutants are probably giving the giant clean air machines a good run for their money. They're working harder because of the haze.

And just like how we clean at home, these expensive industrial filters probably need more wipes and quicker replacement. And that adds cost.

Overall production can be maintained but a higher operating cost which means lower margins.  Don’t think anyone is looking at how this impact is gonna affect Q3/Q4 NODX numbers but this goes beyond just people getting sick and how much time/money we spend outside. Maybe The Business Times might want to ask around.

Not Seeing The Sun In The Haze

 

When Steak Isn't

A friend was so hungry that when he saw “steak” on the menu in a restaurant, he decided unequivocally to fulfil his heart’s desire. Along however came a well-grilled cauliflower steak. He apparently was devastated by his poor comprehension of the written word, and equally disappointed that his meat serving was diametrically opposite from his salivary intentions. (Perhaps he should have been triggered a smidge when no request for doneness followed his order.)

When I heard this tale of woe, I wondered if there is a need to have set boundaries for how some words are used to describe authentic and perhaps original meaning. Like champagne, where the fizzy stuff is only champagne if it is borne out of the Champagne region in France. Or shortbread is only shortbread if it has the requisite one-third or more factor of butter present in each morsel of God-sent goodness. Should “steak” only be used to describe cuts of meat? I think so. A salmon steak works too, pink-orange protein as testament. No more use of “steak” by vegetarians to fool the rest of us into avoiding meat. 

Also ice cream should really have cream right? Many mass-produced ice creams out there don’t even use real milk, but milk powder and palm oil to recreate the creaminess required. I guess some of these substitutions happen to make products cheaper and more accessible to a larger audience but I guess it doesn’t hurt to know what one is putting in one’s mouth. 

A bit of research enlightens me that cheeses have a good deal of Geographical Indications like champagne does. Parmesan should only come from certain parts of Italy, feta must come from Greece and made via traditional means, and the blue cheese roquefort can only be named so if it ripened in the caves Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in France!

Some more Googling reveals more amazing nomenclature revelations for the most basic things we eat. In the US, peanut butter must contain at least 90% peanuts else it is “peanut spread”; If vegetable oil is used in chocolate instead of cocoa butter, the label must be changed to “chocolate-flavoured candy”; And back to ice cream, there must be a minimum 10% milk fat to be called such, else it’s a “frozen dairy dessert”. 

So there are various standards and protections around the world for how food is made and named (mostly in the US and EU), and slammed if manufacturers don’t abide by the rules. I love it, keeps us kosher so to speak. Don't think it'll work in Asia though because we're so used to the fusion of ingredients and experimentation of flavours, I'm not sure if standards of purity and exact production can be adequately enforced.

Back to beef about “steak”, I’d bring it up if I see it the misnomer. One menu at a time.