Non-technology sector accounts for more than two-thirds of digital growth

What has been seen as a trend over the past few years was brought clearly into focus this year, the digital economy is no longer being driven just by the technology sector.  

While Singapore’s digital economy (DE) grew by S$12 billion in 2024 to reach S$128.1 billion, accounting for 18.6 per cent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), more than two-thirds of the DE value addition came from non-Information & Communications (I&C) sectors.  

The I&C sector accounted for S$41.3 billion or six per cent of the GDP as the non-I&C sector witnessed a strong rebound in 2024 to reach S$86.8 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 12.2 per cent. 

Between 2019 and 2024, the economic value added by digitalisation in non-I&C sectors grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8 per cent, reflecting the continued digital deepening in various sectors of the economy. 

According to the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore’s (IMDA) Singapore Digital Economy (SGDE) Report 2025, released on Monday, Finance & Insurance remained the largest non-I&C contributor. 

This was followed by Wholesale Trade and Manufacturing, underscoring the critical need for all enterprises, regardless of industry, to embrace digitalisation to drive growth.  

Singapore’s tech workforce expanded marginally in 2024 to 214,000 from 208,300 in 2023. 

Roles related to artificial intelligence (AI), data and cybersecurity grew the fastest.  

This workforce growth was primarily driven by demand in non-I&C sectors, reflecting the deepening of digitalisation across the economy. 

Tech jobs also continued to offer good wages and strong career prospects.  

In 2024, the median monthly wage for resident tech workers was S$7,950, much higher than the overall resident median monthly wage of S$4,860. 

The number of tech job postings requiring AI skills has steadily increased between 2019 and 2024 across all sectors, including I&C, Finance & Insurance, Manufacturing, and Professional Services.

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The employment demand for AI skills was in tandem with the rise in AI adoption in Singapore. 

Enterprises in Singapore sustained their digitalisation efforts in 2024, with both digital adoption rate and intensity in the six digital areas examined, namely cybersecurity, cloud, e-payment, e-commerce, data analytics and AI. 

The digital adoption rate among all enterprises continued to increase, with 95.1 per cent of all enterprises adopting at least one digital area in 2024, up from 94.6 per cent in 2023.  

Firms also made substantial progress in digital adoption intensity – on average, a firm adopted 2.3 of the six digital areas in 2024, compared to 2.0 in 2023. 

SME using more AI 

The report noted that the adoption of AI among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tripled, with 14.5 per cent of SMEs adopting AI in 2024, up from 4.2 per cent in 2023.  

Among non-SMEs, the AI adoption rate also jumped from 44 per cent to 62.5 per cent. 

Not only are more SMEs going digital, they are also deepening their digitalisation. 

Examples of this include applying digitalisation in more areas and adopting sector-specific digital solutions (not just digital solutions for generic business functions that apply across sectors).  

As for digital adoption intensity, SMEs adopted an average of 2.3 (out of six) digital areas in 2024, up from 2.0 digital areas in the preceding year.  

This was the largest annual increase in digital adoption intensity for SMEs in recent years and was driven largely by their AI adoption. 

Overall, in the economy, most of the AI-adopting firms (84 per cent) reported using off-the-shelf generative AI (GenAI) tools, and more than half (52 per cent) adopted AI-enabled digital solutions tailored for domain-specific tasks such as human resources and accounting software.

Another 44 per cent of AI-using firms have implemented customised or proprietary AI tools, showing a growing sophistication in how businesses are embedding AI into their operations. 

Training and upskilling

According to  IMDA, more than two-thirds of the surveyed AI-adopting firms intend to prioritise training and upskilling their workforce in the next one to two years, while 63 per cent expect to redesign jobs to better integrate AI into daily operations. 

Nearly three in four workers (73.8 per cent) reported using AI tools at work, with many using AI several times a week or even daily, according to a survey done by IMDA.  

Among these surveyed AI users, 58 per cent used AI for brainstorming and ideation, alongside writing and editing (54 per cent) and administrative tasks (42 per cent). 

The report noted that AI is delivering benefits for workers across multiple dimensions.  

A large majority (85 per cent) of AI users reported improvements in productivity, time savings and work quality.  

Beyond such efficiency gains, nearly half of AI users (48 per cent) indicated using AI to enhance their creativity, while one-third (33 per cent) saw benefits in using AI for learning. 

IMDA’s Deputy Chief Executive, Kiren Kumar, noted that the government will broaden and deepen support for sectors, enterprises and talent to harness digitalisation and AI for innovation and productivity.  

“At the same time, we are laying the foundation for frontier technologies including Embodied AI, Agentic AI, Quantum Computing and Communications, ensuring Singapore stays competitive and inclusive in the digital future,” he said.