Speech by DPM and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong at the Opening and Groundbreaking Ceremonies of KLA's New Manufacturing Facility

Mr. Bren Higgins, KLA Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Theo Kneepkens, KLA Senior Vice President of Global Operations and Country-President of KLA Singapore

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Good morning.

2. It is my great pleasure to join you today at the Phase 1 Opening and Phase II Groundbreaking ceremony of KLA's new manufacturing facility in Singapore.

3. Over the past two decades, Singapore ‘s partnership with KLA has grown from strength to strength.

a. Since starting out with a facility for handlers, KLA has steadily grown its footprint locally with Singapore housing their regional headquarters, performing both manufacturing and R&D functions.

b. KLA Singapore is also a key contributor to the company’s global manufacturing output and home to close to 1,000 employees supporting advanced manufacturing and operations.

4. Today, we reach another milestone in our partnership with KLA at this groundbreaking ceremony of your new facility.

a. This new investment significantly strengthens KLA’s manufacturing presence in the region and brings additional technical sophistication to the campus.

i. KLA’s new facility will be manufacturing some of KLA’s most complex and sophisticated wafer geometry, optical defect inspection, and eBeam defect inspection and review tools.

ii. These products have continuously evolved with innovation to address industry challenges and inflections, serving as an indispensable part of chipmakers' process control strategies, and helping to transform yield management for semiconductor manufacturing.

5. Amidst intensifying competition for semiconductor investments, KLA’s latest facility is a vote of confidence for our semiconductor equipment industry.

a. Singapore is a critical node in the global semiconductor equipment value chain, accounting for about 20% of global market share.

b. We stand ready to fulfil the global demand for semiconductors by growing our semiconductor equipment industry.

i. From 2012 to 2022, our semiconductor equipment industry grew at a CAGR of 25%.

ii. The demand for new semiconductor technologies will continue to drive innovation and growth in the semiconductor equipment industry, to enable new manufacturing processes, use of new materials, new technologies, architectures and new structures.

iii. We hope this will in turn drive companies such as KLA to deepen their investments into Singapore, to drive the growth of our semiconductor equipment industry, and generate good jobs for Singaporeans.

I. KLA’s latest facility is expected to create at least 400 jobs, with engineering roles in areas such as mechanical design, materials, and product testing.

6. There will be opportunities for enterprises in our local ecosystem to collaborate with KLA on niche areas such as precision cleaning and manufacturing of metal parts used in optics assemblies.

i. For example, Alantac Industrial Services worked closely with KLA to co-develop precision cleaning solutions to address stringent cleaning requirements of newer tools used to inspect and detect smaller defects.

ii. Over time, this will uplift the capabilities of our local companies, so that they too can become leaders in the supplier ecosystem to serve companies here and in other markets.

7. Congratulations to KLA once again on the expansion of your facility here in Singapore.

8. May this occasion not only be the groundbreaking of a new facility, but also that of a stronger, deeper and more resilient partnership between Singapore and KLA for many years to come.

9. Thank you.