The quiet layer keeping the chip boom alive

The semiconductor boom is no longer just about building more fabs; it’s about keeping the tools inside them running with near-perfect reliability. As global chipmakers pour billions into new plants and equipment, the spotlight often stays on the giants: the OEMs, the mega fabs, and the trillion-dollar supply chains.

But behind every high-performing production line is a quieter support layer of specialist SMEs. These firms refurbish critical tools, reduce downtime, and solve the operational problems that can make or break shipment schedules.

Also Read: Semiconductors at risk: The invisible threats that could break global supply chains

Singapore-based Global TechSolutions (GTS) is one such company. In this Q&A, its CEO Kenneth Lee Wee Ching, shares how the company has built a regional footprint across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and the US — and why reliability, auditability, and near-site agility are becoming just as strategic as the next breakthrough node.

Edited excerpts:

Semiconductors are heading toward a trillion-dollar market, and fabs are pouring money into tools. Yet the “support layer” gets little attention. In one sentence, what does GTS do that directly protects fab revenue, and why can’t big OEMs do it as effectively?

At its core, GTS restores and upgrades front-end semiconductor tools to OEM-equivalent—or better—hardware performance, helping fabs reduce downtime, bypass long new-tool lead times, and protect shipment schedules. Large OEMs are not structured for the same near-site agility, deep customisation, or selective execution model where we only take on work we can certify to OEM-level outcomes with warranty. That focus is why our work sits so close to protected fab revenue.

For founders and VCs, defensibility matters. In semiconductor equipment services, what is your moat?

Our defensibility stems from a combination of breadth of capability, execution discipline, and customer proximity. GTS is among the few regional players offering a full suite of new equipment, refurbishment, upgrades, and field engineering—supported by cleanroom-certified facilities and test platforms that simulate real fab environments.

Our footprint across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the US enables near-site response and supports a “close-to-customer” strategy that holds up even when supply chains tighten. We pre-stage critical spares, run parallel testing, and compress time-to-qualification without compromising performance.

Equally important is know-how. We maintain proprietary jigs, fixtures, firmware, and automated test routines developed in-house. We also deliberately decline work if we cannot meet OEM-equivalent standards. That discipline preserves trust and yields for customers.

Together, these capabilities address cost, lead time, customisation, and sustainability — while reinforcing defensibility in an industry where reliability, repeatability, and auditability are non-negotiable.

What does “reliability” mean in numbers? Which metrics matter most to customers, and what improvement ranges are realistic?

We define reliability using metrics that production and finance teams already care about. These include Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF), time-to-qualification (the speed at which a tool is released back to production) and chamber-level performance indicators such as thermal uniformity, vacuum stability, and gas-flow calibration, all of which underpin line yield.

Also Read: Indonesia courts Nvidia and AWS as it eyes a bigger role in global chip supply chains

In advanced-packaging-relevant lines, customers have seen roughly a 15 per cent reduction in downtime and around a 7 per cent improvement in line-yield stability following refurbishment and targeted upgrades. We also treat documentation completeness as a KPI. Clean, ISO- and SEMI-aligned documentation with traceable test logs shortens audits and keeps production lines compliant.

Trust is the real currency in semiconductors. How did GTS win its first serious customers?

Trust in this industry is built incrementally. Qualification standards are stringent, and introducing a new partner involves lengthy approval cycles. We started with smaller scopes and incremental improvements, then expanded into more complex parts and equipment only after demonstrating consistent results.

That caution is necessary: with thousands of steps in chipmaking, minor errors can cascade into significant losses. We also operate under strict SOPs and controlled environments, including Class 100 and Class 1,000 cleanrooms that mirror fab conditions. This reassures customers that our processes behave predictably when deployed on production lines.

Over time, that translated into a track record of high performance at optimised cost—combined with faster turnaround and greater customisation than traditional OEM approaches. Customer retention and referrals followed naturally.

How do you operate through uncertainty, like export controls, shifting trade rules, audits, and supply disruptions, without breaking delivery promises?

Semiconductors are deeply intertwined with geopolitics. Export controls, tariffs, and regulatory shifts often translate directly into supply-chain disruptions. To manage this, GTS built a “global supply chain mirroring” approach years ago.

We maintain engineering presence, parts strategy, and execution capability close to where customers operate, while aligning closely with them on technology roadmaps and requirements. Where appropriate, this allows us to localise execution and rely on locally available parts rather than a single cross-border supply route.

When sudden policy changes occur, this resilience prevents disruption from becoming downtime. Even when the “cleanest path” is no longer available, our proximity and documentation discipline allow us to align on acceptable alternatives with customers and keep execution controlled, predictable, and auditable.

Are fabs shifting from break-fix to predictive reliability engineering? What must SMEs build to stay relevant?

Yes, the shift is underway, especially in high-mix lines where advanced packaging intersects with front-end steps. Maintenance is moving from reactive break-fix toward predictive diagnostics and reliability engineering.

For SMEs, relevance requires a capability stack that includes high-quality data capture, component-level cleanroom testing, predictive diagnostics tied to known failure modes, and disciplined teardown-to-QA loops. Just as necessary is documentation that integrates cleanly into fab workflows so insights translate into approvals and action.

Also Read: Thailand enters the chip race, without challenging Singapore head-on

At GTS, we’re investing in software-driven diagnostics and fault prediction. We are developing systems that learn from troubleshooting patterns and equipment signals (such as vibration, motion anomalies, and acoustic changes) to detect early warning signs. In parallel, we’re standardising knowledge-sharing across regions so improvements in one site can be replicated quickly elsewhere without compromising quality controls.

How are AI and advanced packaging changing customer demands, and what must SMEs build by 2026?

AI workloads and advanced packaging are raising expectations across the board. We’re seeing demand for tighter thermal control and film uniformity, more line-specific modifications instead of generic upgrades, faster ramp-to-production timelines, and deeper metrology and certification discipline.

To stay relevant through 2026, SMEs need modular upgrade paths, cleanroom testing capacity, predictive diagnostics, and documentation that is export-control-ready and audit-friendly. Our focus remains on improving chamber-level reliability with auditable performance, so innovation reaches production with stability—not just speed.

At the same time, software-driven capabilities will become increasingly important, enabling customers to shift from reactive fixes to earlier, proactive interventions as tolerances tighten.

From a scaling perspective, what breaks first when an SME expands across countries? What do you standardise, and what stays local?

The first thing that breaks is consistency of execution—not technical skill, but how reliably teams diagnose issues, control variation, and sign off outcomes under pressure. Small differences in training or test interpretation can create big swings in customer confidence.

To prevent this, we standardise the “spine” of delivery across all regions: ISO- and SEMI-aligned quality systems, refurbishment and test protocols, structured documentation and sign-off gates, training pathways, and parts qualification strategies. This ensures predictable quality without reinventing processes at each site.

What remains local is how we integrate into each customer’s operating reality—site-specific compliance requirements, fab conventions, and coordination with local stakeholders. The goal is a common engineering playbook with local fluency.

Looking to 2026, what’s your base case and contrarian view for the semiconductor services ecosystem? Who wins?

Our base case is that advanced packaging continues to scale and fabs increasingly prioritise predictability—uptime, faster qualification, and auditability—over pure capex expansion. Service partners that win more scope will be those that can consistently return tools to certified performance and prove it with clean documentation.

Also Read: ‘The future of semiconductor manufacturing is regional’: Global TechSolutions CEO

The contrarian view is that even when equipment is available, execution friction becomes the real bottleneck. Compliance overhead, export controls, and specialist talent shortages may matter more than hardware availability. In that environment, speed alone doesn’t win; controlled agility does—the ability to move fast while remaining auditable and safe.

Across both scenarios, the biggest pinch points will be human capital, compliance, and critical spares. Talent is particularly challenging given the industry’s complexity, which makes ecosystem-building and collaboration essential.

On winners, it’s not simply niche specialists versus scaled platforms. It’s whichever model can repeatedly prove outcomes—performance, auditability, and production stability—again and again.

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