SINGAPORE’S new technology centre for gallium nitride, an emerging material used in semiconductor chips, is expected to become operational in 2025, Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said on Monday (Feb 26).

The centre “is being fitted out now”, said Gan in a written response to a parliamentary question from Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Gerald Giam.

Gallium nitride, or GaN, is a compound semiconductor formed by combining the elements gallium and nitrogen into crystals.

The National Gallium Nitride Technology Centre was announced in October 2022, when Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat said that it would be set up with an initial US$85 million investment over the next five years.

The centre will feature technology developed by Nanyang Technological University and DSO National Laboratories, and support companies with prototyping and commercialisation, Gan said on Monday.

It aims to stimulate research and development and manufacturing of GaN devices, and promote collaborations between industry and academia “to generate new intellectual property”, he added. “It will also provide access to shared infrastructure that (the industry and academia) might not have been able to develop on their own.”

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Students from institutes of higher learning will be involved in the centre’s research projects, so as to “prioritise growing the talent base for Singapore in this field”, he said. “Over time, we expect the centre to nurture a healthy pipeline of research scientists and engineers in this growing field.”