Applied Materials, Inc. has announced its intention to build a collaborative engineering center in Bangalore, India. Particularly, the aim is to focus on development and commercialization of technologies for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

The center will be designed to bring together Applied engineers, leading global and domestic suppliers, and top research and academic institutions. Thus, enabling them to collaborate in one location with a common goal of accelerating development of semiconductor equipment sub-systems and components.

The center will also aim to serve as a catalyst for the training and development of future semiconductor industry talent. For that reason, opening up new opportunities for India to play an expanded role in the global chip ecosystem.

“Applied is excited to build upon our 20 years of success in India by creating a facility where the country’s top engineers, suppliers and researchers can work side-by-side to develop new innovations,” said Prabu Raja, President of the Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials. “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.”

Solidifying Global Infrastructure

Expected to be located near Applied’s existing campus in Bangalore, the collaborative engineering center is part of the company’s previously announced plans to expand its global innovation infrastructure. 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. The company also works closely with multiple leading academic institutions including the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Particularly, these are where Applied has established a Materials Development Center focused on developing next-generation chemistry and materials for the semiconductor industry.

The new collaborative engineering center will strengthen Applied’s high-velocity innovation platform which includes the forthcoming EPIC Center in Silicon Valley.

Applied intends 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 will support more than US$2 billion of planned investments. At the same time, create at least 500 new advanced engineering jobs along with potentially another 2,500 jobs in the manufacturing ecosystem.