Semiconductor firm Ambiq to expand R&D in Singapore, eyes 30 specialised tech hires

[SINGAPORE] US-based semiconductor firm Ambiq is expanding its research and development (R&D) footprint in Singapore, with plans to hire up to 30 tech professionals to advance its edge artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Unlike most AI models, which require constant connectivity to process information, edge AI enables intelligence to be processed directly on devices such as smartwatches, reducing latency and power consumption.

Best known for locally powering the TraceTogether contact-tracing tokens used during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ambiq is recruiting for specialised roles such as research data scientists, engineers, design verification specialists and field application engineers.

The chipmaker told The Business Times that it has begun the hiring process and seeks to continue progressively in phases in the coming years.

On Wednesday (Feb 25), Ambiq opened its new office in Aperia Tower 2 at Kallang. It provides a dedicated space to scale the chipmaker’s R&D, engineering, product development and sales activities in Singapore.

Currently, Ambiq has 30 employees in Singapore supporting global product development.

With the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the chipmaker will establish a centre of excellence to further develop and strengthen one of its key technology platforms for licensing.

To deepen its R&D efforts and build on its local presence – following the launch of its Asia headquarters in Singapore back in 2021 – Ambiq plans to partner with institutes of higher learning, public research institutions and local small and medium-sized enterprises.

These partnerships will focus on talent development, applied research and industry-academia collaboration.

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While Ambiq maintains global R&D operations in the US and Singapore, its research centre here will focus on advancing ultra-low-power edge AI technologies, particularly in integrated circuit design, AI software development, and test engineering.

“Singapore is a crucial hub for Ambiq’s advanced R&D and engineering efforts,” said Fumihide Esaka, chief executive officer of Ambiq.

He added that Singapore’s strong talent base, robust research ecosystem and close collaboration across industry and academia make it an ideal location for advancing the company’s most complex edge AI technologies.

Part of a wider push

Speaking at the opening of Ambiq’s new office on Wednesday, Soo Haw Yun, vice-president of global enterprises at EDB, said: “Ambiq’s new R&D activities here will further extend the ability of our semiconductor industry to capture AI-driven growth.”

The semiconductor industry contributes close to 6 per cent of Singapore’s gross domestic product, and employs more than 35,000 people locally.

“Singapore continues to build up our innovation ecosystem so that we can support companies like Ambiq, that are seeking to advance technological breakthroughs and create new value,” said Soo.

In the past two years, Singapore has been successful in attracting over S$18 billion of R&D and manufacturing investments into the semiconductor ecosystem here, an EDB spokesperson said.

Soo cited the upcoming Semiconductor Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) Flagship – supported by the recently launched S$37 billion RIE2030 plan – as one of the government initiatives to anchor and expand “high-value corporate research and manufacturing activities in Singapore”.