Gemalto, which had more than 1.6 billion yen (S$3.1 billion) in sales for its fiscal year ended last December, employs 1,200 staff at its sprawling 21,500 sq m lab facility in Ayer Rajah Crescent.

It now has 219 R&D engineers, and it is bucking the trend: It is hiring another 29 research engineers this year, and will require an additional 18 next year, making its Singapore R&D centre its biggest worldwide.

This set-up will eclipse its seven other research centres in Europe, the United States and China.

While the company's research base has historically been France - Gemalto was formed out of the 2006 merger of two French companies: then No. 1 smart card company Gemplus and No. 2 Axalto - it decided to beef up its Singapore R&D capabilities in the light of the 'long-term' growth potential in Asia, said Gemalto's vice-president for human resources, Mr Marc Ribas.

Moving its main R&D site to Singapore will allow Gemalto to be 'closer to our customers', he said.

In Singapore, Gemalto smart cards are used for ez-link cards, United Overseas Bank credit cards,

biometric passports and identity cards.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.