Set up in 24 days, gaming firm Razer’s S’pore plant is now ready to make up to 5 million face masks a month

SINGAPORE — Gaming firm Razer said on Friday (April 24) that it has set up a fully automated manufacturing line in Singapore that can produce up to five million face masks a month, and has done so in just 24 days, beating its own target of 30 days.

The level of production can be scaled up if necessary, the firm, which has offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, added in a media release.

Razer said it was the first such facility in Singapore. A spokesperson for the firm declined to disclose the plant’s location in Singapore. The facility has been adapted from an existing facility to make face masks.

Razer’s chief executive officer Tan Min-Liang, one of Singapore’s high-profile tech entrepreneurs, had announced in a press release on April 1 his plans to build the manufacturing line within 30 days to supply face masks to the Singapore and regional market.

Razer last month converted existing product manufacturing lines in China to make and donate one million masks globally, with initial shipments of masks going out earlier in April.

Responding to a query on when the Singapore-made masks will be on sale in Singapore, he said that healthcare workers will be prioritised in receiving the masks.

He said: “Our focus is to get supply for the frontline healthcare workers but we may get units for sale to the public, too.”

Razer said that updates on the availability of the masks will be made shortly through the firm's social media channels.

It added that the automated manufacturing line was set up “due to the lack of high quality and reliably manufactured face masks in the market as well as the lack of face masks in Southeast Asia”.

The manufacturing line was also created due to the increased demand for face masks as global government health bodies have asked citizens to mask up at all times.

The masks produced will be certified according to domestic and international standards.

In response to a query on how much the manufacturing line costs, in an “Ask Me Anything” post by Mr Tan on the manufacturing line on Thursday, Mr Tan said that the firm spent about US$1 million (S$1.42 million) to build the manufacturing line.

“The short answer is that we spent a lot of money and got a lot of our top talent to focus on making it happen. We had to charter flights, spend a premium to get the machines and materials. For the facility, we renovated an existing location to meet our controlled specifications,” he said.

Companies such as Frasers Property, JustCo and PBA Group have each committed US$50,000 to buy the initial batches of masks from the production line.

In his Facebook post on Thursday, Mr Tan said that Singapore had been one of the first countries to which the firm had donated the masks that were made in China.

“To date, outside of Singapore, we've shipped masks to Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United States and the list goes on. I intend to continue shipping globally as long as we can help,” he said.

But Razer said that it had been “inundated by requests” owing to an extreme shortage of face masks and personal protective equipment — particularly in Southeast Asia — and had decided to build the automated manufacturing line here to supply the domestic and regional market.