India’s semiconductor industry seems to be picking up investments in an accelerated fashion, specially during the country’s prime minister’s official US state visit. Along with Micron, now Applied Materials has announced plans to establish a collaborative engineering center in Bengaluru, India. This center is expected to serve as a hub for the development and commercialization of cutting-edge technologies for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In this regard, the company will make a gross investment of $400 million over a period of four years to establish the new center.
This development further cements India’s growing importance in the global semiconductor manufacturing sector and aligns with the government’s “Make in India” initiative. Tech titans like Apple have already shifted production of their devices from China to India, and Applied Material’s goal to set up the collaborative engineering center gives India a chance to contribute significantly to the global chip industry, enhance its self-reliance, and reduce its dependence on imports. All of this comes amid the backdrop of increasingly sour relations between China and the West, along with the former’s inability to restore the supply chain order to pre-pandemic levels.
“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.”
The establishment of Applied Materials’ collaborative engineering center in Bengaluru is a significant development for India’s steadily growing semiconductor industry. The center is expected to facilitate collaboration of key stakeholders, including Applied engineers, suppliers, and academic institutions, with the shared goal of advancing semiconductor manufacturing equipment technologies. The collaborative engineering center is expected to be located near Applied’s existing campus in Bengaluru.
The development also presents a significant opportunity for talent development and training within India’s semiconductor industry. By bringing the engineers of Applied Materials closer to suppliers and leading research and academic institutions, the company aims to contribute to the upskilling of the local talent pool as well. This, in turn, will provide a platform for aspiring engineers and researchers to gain exposure to cutting-edge technologies and industry best practices as they team up to accelerate the development of semiconductor equipment sub-systems and components. Applied Materials notes that the center is expected to, in its first five years of being operational, support more than $2 billion of planned investments, as well as create at least 500 new advanced engineering jobs and another 2,500 jobs in the manufacturing ecosystem.
“The launch of the India Semiconductor Mission in 2021 helped propel ease of business initiatives for electronics manufacturing in India, and the government has continued to take positive steps towards making the country a favorable investment destination for the global chip industry,” Srinivas Satya, Country President of Applied Materials India, commented on the matter.
“Applied Materials is a key part of India’s semiconductor ecosystem and our plan to establish a new collaborative engineering center in Bengaluru strengthens our efforts to help advance India on its journey to becoming a global semiconductor hub. Our aim is for the center to play a critical role in bringing the much-required synergies between engineers, academia and suppliers and to empower them to fuel breakthrough ideas,” he added.
