How Applied Materials Built a Two-Headed Engine in Singapore and India

The first installment of our series profiles Applied Materials—a legacy giant making massive waves in the Indian semiconductor ecosystem. As proud participants in “CoseIn 2026” (organized by IISc Bangalore, with “EE Herald” serving as Media Partner), we wanted to take a deep look at how this company operates.

Think of Applied Materials as the ultimate "toolmaker" behind the scenes of our modern digital world. While you won't see their logo on your smartphone or laptop, almost every advanced chip inside those devices was likely built using their hardware.

1967: The Summer of Love and the Birth of a Giant

The company was founded in 1967 in Santa Clara, California, right as the "Silicon Valley" boom was kicking off. It was a wild time. While the "Summer of Love" was reaching its apex in San Francisco—defined by anti-war protests, psychedelic rock, and The Beatles releasing *Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band*—a group of straight-laced entrepreneurs stateside realized something profound. They saw that as electronics got smaller and more powerful, the industry would need incredibly precise machines to build them.

T...