US-based Illumina Inc., a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, recently celebrated the opening of a global capability centre in Bengaluru, to grow its global workforce, deepen technology talent in the region, and support a global customer base. This planned move was originally announced in early September.
 
The Illumina office is located within Bengaluru’s Manyata Technology Park, a complex shared among global technology, health care, and biopharma companies. More than 80 Illumina employees currently work at the Manyata facility, with more than 200 employees anticipated at the site by the end of 2025. Illumina also operates a customer solutions centre in Bengaluru.  
 
Illumina’s investment in a global capability centre reflects a growing trend of companies establishing operations in India. More than 3000 multinational companies have joined India’s vibrant innovation ecosystem, building highly skilled teams to enable global scaling of business processes and to drive growth.

The growing adoption of genomics in India holds tremendous potential for public health and personalised medicine for the region’s nearly 1.5 billion people. It is estimated that up to 96 million people in India have a rare disease, and one in nine people in India are likely to develop cancer in their lifetime.

Illumina’s workforce strategy is to build global teams with the skills and capabilities to enable innovation at scale and strengthen the company’s impact around the world. In addition to two sites in India, Illumina has a sequencing centre in Cambridge, England, and an innovation centre in Singapore, along with commercial offices in Asia, Oceania, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.

Illumina’s new global capability centre adds to an already growing footprint in the region. In 2023, Illumina opened a new office and state-of-the-art genomics lab, known as an Illumina Solutions Centre, in Bengaluru. The facility provides training and education and features a fully equipped laboratory with the latest next-generation-sequencing technologies.