World largest semiconductor producing equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc. announced Thursday that it will establish a global development and research center in the Hi-Tech Industries Development Zone in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The US-based company chooses Xi'an to build its development and research center because the city is rich in educational and technical resources and the Hi-Tech Industries Development Zone is developing at amazing speed, said Wang Ningguo, President of Applied Materials Asia.

"Xi'an is our first engineering developing location outside the U.S., we hope that our close cooperation will take Applied's business in China to a brand-new level," said Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials.

At the same time, Applied Materials will set up an 600,000 US dollar Innovation Fund to encourage and support the students, universities and research institutes in semiconductor-related research.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Applied Materials has opened offices in China's cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Wuxi, and Suzhou with more than 300 staff members in total.

Source:Xinhua