Applied to establish Asian operations hub

The facility will be located in the Changi North Industrial Park, is expected to be completed late next year and will be designed to meet some of the highest green building standards in the world, Applied noted.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 7/8/2008

To serve as a hub for semiconductor manufacturing equipment giant Applied Materials Inc’s business activities in Asia, the company broke ground today for the construction of a new operations facility during a ceremony in Singapore with Singapore economic development board chairman Lim Siong Guan, company executives, and US Ambassador Patricia Herbold.

The facility, which will be located in the Changi North Industrial Park, is expected to be completed late next year and will be designed to meet some of the highest green building standards in the world, Applied noted.

Commenting on the operations centers, Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied said in a statement, “Sitting at a virtual crossroads between India and China, Singapore has proven to be a friendly and great place to do business with its strong transportation and logistics network, extensive supplier base and talented workforce. Our state-of-the-art campus will showcase our commitment to the environment while bringing enhanced capabilities closer to our customers throughout Asia.”

The 32,000 square meter operations center will serve as a base for Applied’s global purchasing, sales, manufacturing, engineering and financial groups to support the Asia region chip industry and the rapidly growing solar markets in India and China, the company said.

Applied believes these new operations will help it achieve reductions in material cost and cycle time while expanding its merge-in-transit and global supply chain capabilities, while employees will also continue to support Singapore’s chip manufacturing industry. Applied said it has served customers from locations in Singapore for 17 years and currently employs approximately 400 people in the country.

Further, the facility (illustration shown right) is designed to standards aimed at earning BCA Green Mark Platinum certification, which Applied said is the highest environmental rating for a building in Singapore.

Specific plans include an installation of what the company said will likely be the largest commercial solar array deployed in Singapore, along with low-e glass curtain walls, LED and fluorescent lighting, an energy efficient air conditioning system and a sophisticated water treatment and rainwater capture system. The site will also incorporate extensive native landscaping.

Concurrent with the ground-breaking, Applied announced its sponsorship of the environment education hub at the Marsiling Secondary School, which, through its sponsorship, will help create a secondary school platform for teaching and learning about environmental issues concerning energy and water.