Singapore’s state investment company, Temasek Holdings, announced a leadership revamp by appointing its veteran executive Chia Song Hwee as Co-CEO of Temasek International. This is one of the most significant leadership revamps at Temasek in recent years, with the company preparing its portfolio for a more challenging global investment climate. Mr. Chia will be appointed Co-CEO on 1 October 2025 and work alongside CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara.
The change is part of a general reshaping being done at Temasek to make it more agile and sharpen investment focus in keeping with rapidly changing global conditions. With rising geopolitical tension, record speed in the development of technology, and markets increasingly becoming unpredictable, Temasek is changing to keep ahead.
A Veteran Leader Taking on an Expanded Mandate
Chia Song Hwee is highly regarded in the financial and corporate community in Singapore. Since he joined the company in 2011, he has held various key leadership positions such as Deputy CEO, President, and Chief Operating Officer. Through the years, he has headed significant divisions like Investments, Strategy, Portfolio Management, and Credit Risk.
Before Temasek, Chia built a strong reputation in the semiconductor industry as the CEO of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of Singapore’s flagship technology companies. With his deep experience in global business operations and high-growth industries, he is a natural fit to lead Temasek’s next era of expansion.
In the role, he will also co-lead Temasek International and assume direct responsibility for leading the newly created global powerhouse unit called Temasek Global Investments, which oversees the global investment activities of the group across sectors and geographies.
Temasek’s Largest Structural Overhaul in a Decade
This decision to appoint a co-CEO is part of the sweeping restructuring plan at Temasek. The organization will be split into three major business entities from 1 April 2026:
Temasek Global Investments: responsible for Temasek’s global direct investments into growth equity, financial services, technology, energy, and emerging markets.
Temasek Singapore (TSG): This focuses exclusively on portfolio companies headquartered in Singapore, to provide strong domestic leadership and ensure long-term national alignment.
Temasek Partnership Solutions (TPS): Focused on fund management, partnerships, and asset-management platforms.
The model enables clarity and speed for the company. Each of the entities will have its own leadership, investment priorities, and operational independence, but aligned to Temasek’s long-term strategic roadmap.
This restructuring reflects Temasek’s assessment that global conditions now warrant more specialized decision-making. In decentralizing the large and varied portfolio valued at about S$434 billion, Temasek seeks enhanced accountability and better resilience in the long run.
Why Temasek Needs a Co-CEO Now
The structure of having co-CEOs is supposed to avail stability, continuity in addition to depth in leadership. Having one single CEO overseeing all global and domestic operations can hardly be practical as Temasek advances in complexity.
Chia brings decades of experience in operations, large-scale organizational leadership, and high-stake global investments. He will be instrumental in carrying out Temasek’s “T2030” roadmap, its long-horizon plan for growth across new sectors, strategic markets, and future-relevant industries together with Dilhan Pillay.
The two will jointly lead the transition to the new structure, mentor new business heads, and ensure that Temasek’s investment approach remains bold and disciplined.
Strategic Implications for Temasek and Singapore
Chia’s appointment signals several key themes for Temasek:
- Doubling Down on Global Ambitions
The investments of Temasek have increasingly become global over the last ten years. Setting up TGI under Chia’s leadership underscores the company’s intention to expand further into high-growth regions and industries.
- Building Leadership Depth
With more entities now managing various parts of the portfolio, strong leadership bench depth is needed. Promoting long-serving executives helps ensure continuity and preserves hard-earned institutional knowledge.
- Increase Agility in Times of Uncertainty
The investment environment continues to be shaped by global economic volatility, geopolitical fragmentation, and climate-related risks. A streamlined structure enables Temasek to make quicker decisions and adapt faster.
- Sharper Accountability
With each unit managing a defined portfolio, performance evaluation becomes clearer and strategic outcomes more transparent.
Challenges Ahead
Despite this, Temasek has its concerns:
Strong governance will be needed in coordinating strategy across three semi-independent entities.
Managing leadership transitions during a major restructuring is complex.
Market pressures may increase with investors expecting better returns from the new structure.
Operational integration, from compliance to reporting, needs to be flawless in order to avoid inefficiencies.
A defining moment for Temasek This appointment of Chia Song Hwee as co-CEO goes beyond any leadership announcement to represent Temasek’s vision for the next decade. Through early restructuring and management empowerment, Temasek positions itself to navigate global uncertainty while continuing to create long-term value for Singapore. When Chia takes the reins, all eyes will be on how well the transformation is executed by Temasek and how the bold, modular structure will set the course for its future performance.
