SEMICONDUCTOR equipment company Applied Materials expects to open a S$600 million Tampines Industrial Crescent facility in 2024, which will double its manufacturing footprint in Singapore.

The greenfield facility was announced at the launch of Applied Materials’ ‘Singapore 2030’ plan on Thursday (Dec 22). At about 700,000 square feet (sq ft), the facility will include more than 200,000 sq ft of equipment manufacturing clean room space.

The plan aims to expand the chipmaker’s Singapore operations in the next eight years by strengthening its global manufacturing and research and development capabilities, broadening technology ecosystem partnerships and developing the local workforce.

Economic Development Board chairman Beh Swan Gin said: “The plan is a vote of confidence in Singapore... (that) will help drive the growth of Singapore’s precision engineering sector”.

It will strengthen the competitive ecosystem that supports semiconductor manufacturing companies, including those that came to Singapore to support Applied Materials, he said, adding that the company’s presence has also benefitted many local small and medium-sized enterprises, such as key suppliers that manufacture critical components and provide services to the company.

The semiconductor industry has recently been under stress, with China looking to become self-sufficient amid US regulations that restrict the sale of advanced semiconductor chips to China to slow its technological advances.

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But Gary Dickerson, president and chief executive of Applied Materials, is confident that the semiconductor industry will be a trillion-dollar market by the end of the decade.

Dr Beh noted that semiconductor equipment is a key sub-sector of Singapore’s precision engineering industry, which accounts for S$50 billion in output and S$15 billion in value-add. He is “very bullish” on the industry’s long-term prospects, highlighting “megatrends” of electrification, 5G, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence that drive the creation of “more devices, solutions and use cases that will require semiconductors”.

Despite the headwinds due to inflation, supply chain disruptions, uncertainties about the global economy and geopolitics, partnerships with industry leaders such as Applied Materials will allow the local semiconductor and semiconductor equipment industries to ride out short-term challenges, he said.

Dickerson said that the automotive industry, education, healthcare and retail will be transformed through technology, artificial intelligence and big data, with semiconductor chips and technology at the foundation.

“Singapore is really well positioned as a regional hub, based on the ability to collaborate better and faster than others,” he added. Almost half of the US-listed chipmakers’ semiconductor products come from Singapore; in the last three years, it also “almost doubled” headcount and “significantly” increased output in the country.

Applied Materials first established its Singapore Operations Center in 2010 and it is currently its largest manufacturing facility outside of the United States. It had also acquired a new facility in 2020.