MOM publishes Singapore's first AI-adoption-among-firms study, and May Day delivered the long weekend.

Good morning. A short working week — Labour Day on Friday took out a day, and the Government released the most consequential thing for SME owners since PSG: the first official measurement of AI adoption across Singapore firms^[1]. The Manpower Minister's May Day message went out on Thursday — relatively conventional in tone, which is itself the news^[2]. And MOM's own eServices were down for two days mid-week — if your S Pass / EP submissions stalled, that's why^[3]. Five minutes, then back to your week.

Sector pulse

Most SG official indicators publish monthly; weekly resolution is rare. Where the latest available data is older than 14 days, we say so plainly.

What actually mattered this week

1. MOM/NTUC release the first official AI-adoption-among-firms study

Published 30 April^[1]. It's an inaugural release — no historical baseline yet — but it's the Government's first formal measurement of how Singapore companies are actually using AI, as opposed to talking about it.

Aphyx interpretation Read this before your next planning meeting. The framing in the press release matters more than any single percentage: "adoption" here covers the spectrum from pilots to production, and the SME slice is what owners should look for. If you've been telling yourself "we'll get to AI next quarter," next quarter is now an empirical question — peers are or aren't doing it, and there's now a number for that. If your sector is in the "high-adoption" bucket, your competitors are pulling ahead; if it's in the "low-adoption" bucket, you have a window. Either way the cost of doing nothing went up this week.

2. The Manpower Minister's May Day message: conventional, which is the news

Min Tan See Leng's May Day 2026 message, published 1 May^[2]. Conventional themes — wage growth, training, tripartism. No new policy launches, no surprise levy moves.

Aphyx interpretation When the May Day message is uneventful, plan as if labour rules are stable through Q3. The frame shifts at Budget, the National Day Rally, and the Committee of Supply — not at May Day. If you've been waiting for a foreign-worker quota signal before locking your hiring plan, you have your signal: nothing new this week.

3. MOM eServices were down 2–3 May — and quietly came back

MOM scheduled a maintenance window for 2–3 May^[3]. If your S Pass / Work Permit / EP submission timed out over the weekend, that's why. The maintenance overlapped with the long-weekend Friday holiday and Saturday.

Aphyx interpretation If you missed a renewal deadline because the portal was down, MOM has historically been pragmatic about technical-blackout submissions in the next business window. Email your case officer with the timestamp and a screenshot before you submit — pre-empt rather than appeal.

This week's calendar

Notable moves

This section will track week-over-week SG SME-specific business news — openings, closures, expansions, M&A under SGD 50M — sourced primarily from ACRA cessation notices and named SG news outlets. The pipeline is not yet live.

Worth your time

The MOM/NTUC AI Adoption Report itself, not just the press release^[1]. The press release tells you adoption was measured; the underlying paper has the cuts by sector and firm-size band. If you employ between 10 and 200 people, the SME size-band breakdown is the part to pull up before your next planning meeting.

— Aphyx
Have a week.