Applied Materials has announced its intention to establish a collaborative engineering center in Bangalore, India that will focus on the development and commercialization of semiconductor manufacturing equipment technologies.
The purpose of the center will be to accelerate the development of semiconductor equipment subsystems and components by bringing together Applied engineers, prominent global and domestic suppliers, and prestigious research and academic institutions. In addition to serving as a catalyst for the training and development of future semiconductor industry talent, the center will provide India with new opportunities to play a larger role in the global chip ecosystem, according to the US vendor.
The collaborative engineering center is expected to be located near Applied's existing campus in Bangalore, as part of the company's previously announced plans to expand its global innovation infrastructure.
Applied also unveiled plans to make a gross investment of US$400 million over four years to establish the new center in India. In its first five years of operation, the center is expected to support more than US$2 billion of planned investments and create at least 500 new advanced engineering jobs along with potentially another 2,500 jobs in the manufacturing ecosystem.
Applied currently operates across six sites in India and has a large organization of product development, R&D, IT and operations capabilities in the country.
Micron Technology, another US company, recently announced plans to expand its global manufacturing footprint through the establishment of a new assembly and testing facility in Gujarat, India. Micron estimated that it would invest up to US$825 million over the course of the project's two phases and create up to 5,000 new direct Micron jobs and 15,000 community jobs in the coming years.
