Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials plans to invest USD 400 million in the next four years to build a collaborative engineering centre in Bengaluru, the company said on Thursday.
The centre will focus on the development and commercialisation of technologies for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the company said in a statement.
"Applied intends to make a gross investment of USD 400 million over four years to establish the new centre in India," it said.
The announcement from Applied Materials comes immediately after computer storage chip maker Micron announced to set up a semiconductor assembly and test unit in Gujarat with a total investment of USD 2.75 billion.
"In its first five years of operation, the centre is expected to support more than USD 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 Materials said.
The company has been in India for the last 20 years.
Expected to be located near Applied's existing campus in Bengaluru, the collaborative engineering centre is part of the company's previously announced plans to expand its global innovation infrastructure.
"Applied Materials is a key part of India's semiconductor ecosystem and our plan to establish a new collaborative engineering centre in Bengaluru strengthens our efforts to help advance India on its journey to becoming a global semiconductor hub," Srinivas Satya, Country President of Applied Materials India, said.
The company said that its new engineering centre will be designed to bring together Applied engineers, leading global and domestic suppliers, and top research and academic institutions, enabling them to collaborate at one location to accelerate the development of semiconductor equipment sub-systems and components.
The centre will aim to train and develop future semiconductor industry talent, as well as open up new opportunities for India to play an expanded role in the global chip ecosystem.
"We envision Applied's strong base of engineering talent collaborating more deeply with domestic and global companies operating in India to strengthen the foundational equipment supply chain serving the global semiconductor manufacturing industry," Prabu Raja, President of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials, said.
Currently, Applied operates across six sites in India and has a large organisation of product development, R&D, IT, and operations capabilities in the country.
The company also works closely with multiple academic institutions, including Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay where it has established a Materials Development Centre focused on developing next-generation chemistry and materials for the semiconductor industry.
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