It is is highly expected to increase its investment in the country by two-folds in terms of research, design, and development in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida, and Chennai
The US based global semiconductor fabless company Qualcomm has now proclaimed that its key priorities in 2024 is to assist the small and medium firms to set-up semiconductor facilities in India. Moreover, the company is highly expected to increase its investment in the country by two-folds in terms of research, design, and development in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida, and Chennai.
In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Savi Soin, president of Qualcomm India said that as per their understanding and scale, they will definitely help India to uplift the semiconductor ecosystem like they have done in other countries with other firms. A year back, the company also added that they are closely working with Tata Group and the Government of India to boost domestic packaging of its all-new PC chip.
“Given Qualcomm’s scale and the number of chips we sell globally, anybody that sets up, semiconductor back-end or fabs in India, would love to have Qualcomm’s volume…they're looking for anybody that sets it up, we're looking for a customer that brings technology and scale, and we check both those boxes,” Soin told Moneycontrol. Via strategic partnerships, Qualcomm is looking to work closely with domestic, and small chip companies. The partnerships according to the company is required because they cannot make software, chips, and silicon for every product and category.
A semiconductor mentorship programme is also arranged by the company to assist these small firms. In fact, on January 7, Qualcomm also mentioned to increase its operation in Chennai by commencing a new chip design unit with an investment of Rs 177.27 crore. This unit is also going to be the center of excellence for Qualcomm, which will further develop connectivity devices for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7. Moreover, it plans to create employment opportunities for 1,600 skilled professionals.
Qualcomm is also eager to boost the start-up ecosystem by providing them support in terms of guidance, mentorship, capital, and technology assistance. Furthermore, the company’s team of engineers in the country also started assisting the international teams particularly in the areas of next-generation satellite communications for standardization and 6G. Soin thinks before looking into 6G, there is a requirement to help 5G succeed in the nation via applicable use cases and Indian people’s mass adoption.
