Semiconductor equipment making company Applied Materials on Friday said its plan to set up an engineering centre in India and develop products will help boost its overall margins globally.
“We are investing in India because of less cost and time taken in developing the products and solutions for the semiconductor firms,” Prabu Raja, president of Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials, told FE in an interaction. “Time is very important worth billions of dollars and we are convinced that time and cost are better in India.”
He said the benefits would mean “margins will be boosted once the products will be developed at scale in its manufacturing facilities globally”. For Applied Materials, the focus in India will be to first develop a few products or their prototypes, after which the feasibility to commercialise them can be checked. The products can then be developed at scale in manufacturing facilities in Austin, Texas, USA, and Singapore.
“At this point in time, we are not looking at manufacturing in India at a larger scale as we already have an ecosystem and our facilities in other places outside India,” Raja said, adding that India is a key market for R&D, design, developing and testing of products, and talent. The company currently operates in six sites in India and has organisations for product development, R&D, IT and operations capabilities.
Last month, Applied Materials committed an investment worth $400 million over four years to build an engineering centre in Bengaluru focused on developing and commercialising technologies for semiconductor manufacturing.
The company is looking to develop five to six unique products initially for industry from India. It will develop products for both advanced and legacy semiconductor nodes.
Raja did not disclose the kind of products and solutions that will be developed in India. Key products for the semiconductor industry which Applied Materials has developed include Plasma Abatement System that reduces high global-warming potential (GWP) of the gaseous chemicals used, Aeris-Si that is used for subfab foreline cleaning to manage silica load and improve pump lifetime, products for cleaning methods for chip processes, among other things.
“We are looking to have the building infrastructure in place shortly. Then, we need to bring together the suppliers and the equipment that will be required,” Raja said.
As of financial year ended October 2022, Applied Materials’ had reported annual revenue of $25.8 billion. The company had invested $2.8 billion in research and development. It currently has 17,300 active patents.