Applied Materials, Inc. and NUS jointly launched the Applied Materials-NUS Advanced Materials Corporate Lab on 25 October 2018. The establishment of the S$70 million corporate laboratory is supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF). Mr Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Finance and Chairman of the NRF, was the Guest-of-Honour at the launch ceremony held at NUS.
The Applied Materials-NUS collaboration will focus on R&D in advanced materials engineering with the intent to create innovations that can be quickly transferred into commercial applications. Moore's Law scaling, the main driver of semiconductor improvements for the past 50 years, is becoming challenged as emerging applications based on A.I. and big data require orders of magnitude improvements in chip performance and efficiency. Materials innovation will have an increasingly important role in achieving these improvements and continuing to advance the industry roadmap.
Professor Aaron Thean from NUS Electrical & Computer Engineering and Professor Richard Wong from the Faculty of Science will co-lead the lab with Applied Materials to steer greater teamwork and exchange between industry and academia. Over 50 researchers, engineers and doctoral students are expected to be trained at the lab.
Applied Materials also sponsoring S$1.5 million in scholarships for doctoral students at the lab to further help grow the pool of highly skilled talent to support the growth of Singapore's semiconductor industry.
