Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore, conferred national honours on three business leaders this week. The President presented the Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of Singapore) award to Mr Gary E. Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials and Mr Marc Casper, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Thermo Fisher Scientific, and the Public Service Medal (Friends of Singapore) award to Mr Manish Bhatia, Executive Vice President of Global Operations of Micron Technology.

Mr Png Cheong Boon, Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board, said: “Mr Gary E. Dickerson, Mr Marc Casper and Mr Manish Bhatia have significantly expanded the presence of their respective firms in Singapore, benefiting our local ecosystem through the creation of good jobs and business opportunities. Applied Materials, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Micron are stalwarts in Singapore’s manufacturing sector, and their activities have deepened and strengthened Singapore’s semiconductor and healthcare industries, contributing to our continued attractiveness as an investment destination. I sincerely congratulate each of you on your award and thank you for the strong partnership over the years.”

Mr Gary E. Dickerson

Mr Gary E. Dickerson is the President and CEO of Applied Materials, a global leader in materials engineering. Mr Dickerson has more than 35 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and has been recognised by Forbes and Harvard Business Review as an innovative leader and top-performing CEO. At Applied Materials, Mr Dickerson has served as President for 12 years and CEO for 11 years.

Mr Dickerson has been pivotal in the company’s continued investments in manufacturing and R&D in Singapore. Notably, Singapore has become the company's key development hub for advanced packaging technologies serving its global customers. Applied Material’s Operations Centre in Singapore is its largest manufacturing facility outside of the US.

Mr Dickerson’s belief in Singapore’s prime position as a regional hub and collaboration centre is reinforced by the company’s “Singapore 2030” plan. Launched in 2022, the plan outlines Applied Material’s commitment to strengthen its manufacturing and R&D capabilities in Singapore, nurture tech ecosystem collaborations and develop the local workforce. In line with this strategy, the company announced a S$600 million investment in a new equipment manufacturing facility in 2022, which will more than double its production capacity and close to double its headcount in Singapore over the coming years. This represents the largest investment by the company and by any equipment manufacturer in recent years.

A strong advocate for education and investing in future generations, Mr Dickerson has shaped collaborations between Applied Materials and local Institutes of Higher Learning to provide training and upskilling opportunities for both students and employees. These include continuing education and training programmes that contribute to building a future-ready talent pipeline in Singapore, and support Singapore’s Manufacturing 2030 vision to become a global business hub for advanced manufacturing.

Applied Materials has been a close and trusted partner of Singapore’s since its establishment here in 1991. In 2019, Applied Materials received the Distinguished Partner in Progress Award from the Government of Singapore in recognition of the company’s outstanding contributions and commitment to the country.

In addition, Mr Dickerson is a member of EDB's International Advisory Council. His deep insights on issues such as the development of artificial intelligence and big data and innovating for sustainable growth are invaluable to the Council’s discussions.

On being conferred the Award, Mr Dickerson said: “It is a tremendous honour to receive this award, and I would like to thank the Singapore Government, our academic and industry partners, and our talented team for supporting Applied Materials’ success here over the past three decades. Singapore plays a unique and important role in the global semiconductor industry. Through our ‘Singapore 2030’ plan, we look forward to expanding our manufacturing and innovation capabilities and broadening technology ecosystem partnerships in Singapore for mutual growth that will benefit the global semiconductor industry.”

Mr Marc Casper

Since 2009, Mr Marc Casper has served as the President and CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific, the largest scientific and lab equipment company by revenue globally. Under his leadership, the Singapore team has grown from 360 employees to more than 2,000 since 2011. Its R&D team has also tripled from 80 Researchers and Engineers to 240 today, becoming the largest employer for life science tools in Singapore.

Mr Casper has been instrumental in building up the company's presence in Singapore, which serves as a key business hub and regional commercial headquarters for Thermo Fisher Scientific’s business in Asia-Pacific. Singapore is also one of the company’s global Centres of Excellence for instrument manufacturing and a key production site for microarrays. The development of these tools, used for genetic testing, aligns with Singapore’s interests in precision medicine.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Thermo Fisher Scientific was one of the major producers of PCR instruments that enabled large-scale COVID-19 testing in Singapore. PCR test kits were used extensively for testing and tracking of COVID-19 patients, which supported our national efforts to manage the outbreak.

Mr Casper has also been instrumental in Thermo Fisher Scientific’s recent investment in Singapore’s first fill-finish manufacturing facility, which enables end-to- end manufacturing of therapies and vaccines to be carried out here. The expanded capabilities strengthen the competitiveness of Singapore’s healthcare industry, while boosting pandemic preparedness and resilience in the region.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has also invested in a Single-Use Technology (SUT) production facility, which supplies critical SUT consumables used to produce life- saving biologic medicines and facilitates local sourcing of bioreactors for drug substance manufacturing, strengthening the local healthcare ecosystem.

On being conferred the Award, Mr Casper said: “On behalf of our team in Singapore and all of our colleagues around the world, I am deeply honoured to receive this Public Service Star Award and be recognised as a Distinguished Friend of Singapore. Thermo Fisher has a profound Mission – to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer – and our presence in Singapore is integral to fulfilling our Mission. We’ve been here for more than 50 years, and we are very proud of the impact we’ve had as we help the country and our customers diagnose and treat disease, ensure clean air and water and help keep people safe. I look forward to what we will accomplish together as we continue to invest in our capabilities and enable our customers to address the world’s greatest challenges.”

Mr Manish Bhatia

Mr Bhatia is the Executive Vice President of Global Operations of Micron Technology, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies. Micron has over 44,000 employees globally, including nearly 9,000 employees in Singapore. Appointed Executive Vice President in 2017, Mr Bhatia oversees the company’s global operations and manufacturing. He has more than 25 years of engineering and operations experience.

Under Mr Bhatia’s leadership, Micron has made multi-billion-dollar investments in Singapore, which have cemented the country’s role as a critical node in the global semiconductor supply chain. Over the past 20 years, Micron has invested more than S$40 billion in Singapore and currently operates four memory wafer fabrication plants and a test and assembly centre here. Singapore also serves as the company’s global Centre of Excellence for NAND flash memory, which is used in applications such as data centres, mobile phones and automobiles.

In 2019, Micron expanded its wafer fabrication plant in Singapore to support the company’s long-term growth. Notably, Micron Singapore is the first front-end semiconductor fab in the world to have received recognition as an Advanced Fourth Industrial Revolution Lighthouse and a Sustainability Lighthouse from World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network in 2020 and 2022 respectively. This is testament to Micron’s leadership in deploying advanced Industry 4.0 and sustainability technologies in its operations in Singapore.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Micron’s operations in Singapore continued to deliver record output, maintaining supply flows and ensuring the company remained a reliable partner in the global semiconductor supply chain. These efforts supported supply chain resiliency and helped mitigate the global semiconductor chip shortage.

Mr Bhatia has also played a crucial role in shaping Micron’s commitment to building a strong pipeline of semiconductor talent in Singapore. Micron continues to deepen its partnerships with local universities, educational institutions and training partners. For example, Micron launched a comprehensive partnership with the five polytechnics in Singapore in 2023. This partnership includes providing 20 scholarships annually to polytechnic students with a passion for engineering and an interest in the semiconductor industry. Micron also offers internships to polytechnic students from science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses, providing hands-on experience at Micron’s facilities in Singapore.

On being conferred the Award, Mr Bhatia said: “I am honoured to receive the Public Service Award on behalf of Micron and our strong team of nearly 9,000 members in Singapore. As semiconductors become an increasingly integral part of our lives, we look forward to continuing our partnerships with the Singapore government and ecosystem partners to drive technology innovation in the years ahead.”

About the Awards

Initiated by the Singapore Economic Development Board in 1998, the Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of Singapore) award recognises senior business executives for their outstanding contributions to the economic growth of Singapore, and the Public Service Medal (Friends of Singapore) award recognises individuals who have rendered commendable public service in Singapore. Between 1998 and 2023, 49 senior business executives have been conferred the Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of Singapore) award. Another 49 have been accorded the Public Service Medal (Friends of Singapore) award.