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SPECIAL REPORT: INDIA
India’s Chip Industry

Grows Up

By Nitin Dahad

I FIRST STARTED WRITING about India’s electronics
industry in 1 . Back then, India was regarded as a place
to source engineering talent at a low labor cost — often
just a tenth the cost of an equivalent hire in Europe or the
United States.
Consequently, India developed a reputation for the
back-offi ce function, whether in software or hardware, Engineers at Signalchip, founded in India
whether for British Telecom or Texas Instruments. It by TI alumni, developed a multiple-input,
became the butt of jokes about cheap talent. There have even been television com- multiple-output (MIMO) RF transceiv-
edy series about the goings-on at Indian back offi ces, especially for call centers. er-on-chip. (Image: Signalchip)

Today, nearly 0 years after I fi led my and India country manager for N P Semicon- multiple levels. There’s a big mindset change
fi rst article, times are changing. Both India ductors, shared the perspective of a 2 -year in government and bureaucracy that India
and China are fi nding their own confi dence. industry veteran when I visited him at his needs to play a very active role in next-gener-
China is clearly motivated to clear the hurdles offi ce in Noida, India, late last year. “I’ve seen ation semiconductor development, and it will
erected by the U.S.-China trade war, and India the industry transforming from a back-offi ce be a big enabler even for bridging the physical
is awash in nationalist sentiment, propagated industry with a lot of translation work coming defi cit challenges that India has — semi-
by the country’s prime minister and the to India, like the back-end technologies for conductor imports being one of the biggest
enthusiasm he stirs up for everything Indian. technology transformation, or maybe low- imports, after oil. This is why there’s a very
Indeed, this newfound fervor isn’t restricted end verifi cation work,” Gupta said. “In the signifi cant focus from government directly on
to India and China nationalist sentiment is last two-and-a-half decades, there’s been a initiatives like Make in India, Invest in India,
popping up everywhere. and Design in India.
In India, one result has been a spate of “The second factor is from the industry
programs focused on creating self-suffi ciency itself. The kind of talent we have in the
in many areas, including electronics and country today, compared with 20 years ago,
semiconductor industries. But it’s not just means we are all set for a lot of indigenous
political and social change that’s driving development, enabling a stream of local
India’s electronics-industry resurgence. semiconductor development. And I see a lot
The last three decades have seen Indian of startup companies within India that are
engineers gain confi dence, demand higher Sanjay Gupta actually growing up.”
salaries, fi gure out how to move up the value (Image: NXP) That’s what I see, too The Indian semicon-
chain, and even branch out from the corporate ductor industry is growing up. It’s no longer
environments of companies like TI, N P, and complete transformation in the value chain just about outsourcing. But there’s still some
Cadence to create their own startups. One both for Indian companies and also for global way to go before we see major Indian chip
high-profi le example is Ganapathy Subrama- companies like N P operating out of India. companies starting to dominate globally.
niam, a former director at Texas Instruments We see more and more talent base in India The debate about whether India can build
in India who co-founded Cosmic Circuits in contributing to cutting-edge technologies, and sustain its own semiconductor fabrication
200 . When Cadence acquired Cosmic Circuits next-generation architectures for prime areas facility will probably persist for some time,
in 201 , Subramaniam branched out again of focus for the company.” without much progress, because of the level
to invest in other semiconductor-related Indeed, he said, these engineers are “not of investment and the infrastructure required.
companies, working alongside Lip-Bu Tan at just contributing they are leading some of owever, there may be progress toward a
WR I Capital. the very key, global-impact projects from viable homegrown fab if the planners focus
India’s fl edgling fabless semiconductor India. At N P, a lot of next-generation ADAS on older process technologies rather than
ecosystem is also getting fresh impetus with advanced driver-assistance system products manufacturing at the bleeding edge.
the help of Indian engineers and entrepre- for targeting driverless cars are actually being In this Special Report, contributors with
neurs who have returned home after building driven out of India.” Those products include a front-row seat to the Indian electronics
successful careers in Silicon alley. I caught “a radar-based product line, vision-based industry’s evolution shed light on its progress
up in London last year with one such veteran, product line, and many more.” and its promise. ■and its promise.
Sateesh Andra, who came back to India to set I asked Gupta to assess the Indian
up a fund that invests in intellectual property industry’s potential impact both locally and
(IP)-led product startups. Andra told me the globally. “In the next fi ve years, the scenario
fi rm looks for companies whose developments may not change much,” he said, “but beyond
are “globally relevant.” fi ve years, I believe transformational changes Nitin Dahad is a staff correspondent at
Sanjay Gupta, vice president of engineering and structural changes will be happening at AspenCore.

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