The developer of the bagless vacuum cleaner, Dyson, announced on Friday that it will invest S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in Singapore over the next four years, the latest step in a S$4.9 billion worldwide investment plan.
Dyson said the money will be split between the company’s worldwide headquarters in Singapore, two campuses in Wiltshire, southern England, and the Philippines when it launched the global investment plan in 2020.
It opened its new global headquarters at a refurbished power plant in the Southeast Asian city-state on Friday, where it aims to hire over 250 more engineers and scientists.
Robotics, machine learning, high-speed electric digital motors, energy storage, and other fields will be covered.
Dyson’s research and engineering departments, as well as commercial, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain operations, are all based in Singapore. In the country, it employs around 1,400 people, including 560 engineers and scientists.
Singapore, a low-tax global business centre, has been ramping up efforts to lure technology and research firms.
“This is the future for technology companies – to go wherever talent is available and made welcome,” its prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said at the opening of the headquarters.
“It is also the future for Singapore – to welcome companies and talent, which can help make us a hub of new ideas and scientific progress.”
The company, which was founded in the 1990s by British entrepreneur James Dyson, is well-known for inventing sleekly designed devices ranging from hand dryers and air purifiers to hair care appliances and vacuums.
Dyson, a millionaire Brexit supporter, announced plans to relocate his company’s headquarters to Singapore in 2019 in order to be closer to its fastest-growing markets, causing a reaction in the United Kingdom.
An engineering center, a motor production facility, and a new battery factory are among the company’s other Singapore locations.
Dyson has a large manufacturing presence in Southeast Asia, with Malaysia being its second-largest global center.
Following an assessment of the Malaysian company’s labor standards and allegations by a whistleblower, Dyson and its supplier ATA IMS Bhd (ATAI.KL) parted ways last year.
Parts for Dyson vacuum cleaners and air purifiers were manufactured by ATA.
