Staff at the 55 million-dollar, 10,000 square feet (930 square metres) ProCurve centre will design, develop and test the company's networking hardware products and will work closely with their US colleagues, HP said in a statement.

"With this R and D investment, HP is bringing some of the most advanced networking technology skills to Singapore for the first time," said Paul Chan, HP's managing director for the Asia-Pacific region.

"This is a long term investment in Singapore's technology base and builds on our excellent track record in high quality manufacturing and our capabilities in doing development work out of Singapore."

The centre is expected to be fully operational in 18 months and will employ more than 50 engineers, HP said.

Singapore has been the site of HP's research and development activities for more than 10 years.

SPACE.WIRE