Singapore launches first gallium nitride-focused facility

The new facility will help the city-state leverage the growing GaN market.

Singapore has launched the National Semiconductor Translation and Innovation Centre for Gallium Nitride (NSTIC (GaN)), its first national facility for GaN semiconductors.

The semiconductor industry contributes nearly 6% to the city-state’s GDP and supports around 35,000 skilled jobs. Meanwhile, GaN is gaining traction globally as a semiconductor material for applications in communications.

NSTIC (GaN) was first set up in 2023 as the National Gallium Nitride Technology Centre. It is a collaboration amongst the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, DSO National Laboratories, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

The centre addresses common challenges faced by companies and researchers, such as limited local access to advanced facilities and the need for closer collaboration across the ecosystem, by providing industry and research collaborators with access to advanced wafer fabrication and prototyping infrastructure.

Through the NSTIC (GaN), Singapore will offer access to infrastructure and research & development capabilities to help companies in their development of relevant GaN-based technologies.

The facility is the first to host both 6-inch GaN-on-Silicon Carbide and 8-inch GaN-on-Silicon wafer fabrication lines in Singapore. This allows the centre to serve a wide range of applications with differing performance requirements.

NSTIC (GaN) will also have GaN technology with gate length below 0.1 micrometres and operation frequencies above 100GHz 1 for very fast processing speeds. It will begin offering commercial foundry services for prototyping and fabrication from mid-2026.

The facility also aims to produce semiconductor talents through partnerships with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) for early exposure to industry-grade infrastructure and processes. There will also be PhD training programmes for translational research capabilities in GaN technologies.