Carrier Equipment: Semiconductor: New Chip on the Block

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The Indian success story of the software and services sector is well known. But there is another in the making�India�s hardware sector consisting of semiconductor (chips), VLSI design, and electronics manufacturing is fast catching up, thanks to the sound ecosystem built over the last two decades.

Emerging Industry
This is the first time VOICE&DATA has included the semiconductor industry in V&D100 issue in recognition of its bolstering contribution to the telecom market. The emerging semicon industry on Indian soil bodes well for the telecom industry as well. The Indian telecom story has become the stuff legends are made of with the Indian mobile market being counted as one of the fastest growing in the world at over 4 mn mobiles bought every month.

With the right ecosystem and major telecom manufacturing companies setting shops here like Elcoteq, Nokia, and Ericsson to name a few, the semicon industry in India has a vast greenfield right at its doorstep.

The semicon industry is at an inflection point in India. The semiconductor market in the country, which was pegged at $1.6 bn in 2006, is expected to reach about $2.2 bn in 2007 and $5.5 bn by 2010. The semiconductor policy announced early in March this year has also given an impetus to the industry�s growth. Despite the dilution of incentive (from 25-30% to 20%) the policy has brought cheer by according it SEZ (special economic zone) status, and exempting countervailing duty (CVD) for non-SEZ entities.

A survey by the Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) and Frost and Sullivan (F&S) done last year suggested that India's chip industry could generate a turnover of $202 bn by 2015, compared with $14.3 bn in 2005, with the potential to employ some 3.6 mn workers by 2015, against 520,000 workers in 2005. By 2015, the ISA study indicates, the industry will account for around 12% of the national GDP.

The Indian Semiconductor Landscape
Sl No	Name of the Company	Core Areas	R&D or Design Center location
1.	AMD India	AMD India Engineering Center is a CoE for advanced VLSI and software development. Nearly 100 engineers at the AMD Center in Bangalore are working on the 65 and 45 nm technology and develop embedded products for handhelds and digital TV, among other products	Bangalore
2.	Analog Devices India	Its design centers primarily focus on products for the telecommunication space. The Hyderabad center contributes to MPSG-NMP, RF and wireless and HSNA product lines. The latest offering from ADI is an IF receiver for cellular base stations to support 3G standards	Bangalore, Hyderabad
3.	Cadence Design Systems	It specializes in developing design automation tools to address 65 and 45 nm technologies. Cadence offers kits for wired and wireless networking and multimedia sectors	Noida
4.	EInfochips	Its design centers offer both design IP synthesized IP cores, and verification IP verification components that includes cores ranging from UWB (ultrawideband) to Gigabit Ethernet	Two each in Ahmedabad and Pune
5.	Freescale Semiconductor	Over 600 engineers are engaged in products related to wireless, mobility, networking, and computing systems among other segments	Noida, Bangalore
6.	Infineon Technologies India	Over 600 professionals work on technology development in wireless and wireline communications. The software team works majorly in areas of mobile phones, VoIP, chip card and security. The hardware team provides a comprehensive range of communication products and technology development for 130, 90, and 65 nm process nodes	Bangalore
7.	Intel India	Intel India Design Center has made significant contributions to Intel�s processor technology based mobile platforms including Centrino Duo and the latest Centrino mobile platform	Bangalore
8.	Ittiam Systems	The company is singularly focused on DSP Systems and has competencies in multiple end equipment domains, covering wireless, wireline, speech/audio, imaging/video	Bangalore
9.	LSI India	The development center works on products for storage, networking and consumer market. The ASIC R&D team is doing cutting edge work on 65 nm and IP development. Next generation of DVDR development for tier-1 customer is being developed in India	Bangalore
10.	Mindtree Consulting	MindTree�s R&D services addresses the needs of communication and wireless with domain expertise in ASIC/SoC design, IP development, board, system and embedded software development. These include UWB and Bluetooth wireless technology, echo cancellation and noise reduction algorithm, and the VoIP protocol	Bangalore
11.	NXP Semiconductors	Over 700 engineers working on leading-edge technologies in 90- and 65-nm processes, embedded software and systems for communications sector. The main areas of NXP�s focus from India include digital television, cellular, multimedia for cellular, connectivity, personal media players, TVs, set-top boxes, and RFID technologies	Bangalore
12.	Qualcomm	Its Bangalore design center does cutting-edge VLSI chip set designs, and has rolled out two chip sets. The company plans to launch an India-specific low-cost chip set for mobile handsets	Bangalore
13.	SiRF Technology	This system solution provider delivers turnkey reference designs and system software along with its semiconductor products. The Indian subsidiary, SiRF Technology India, was set up in 2004 with the aim of starting a 'Center of Excellence'	Noida
14.	Sankalp Semiconductor	It specializes in offering analog and mixed-signal design and layout services. It is currently working with customers to provide mixed-signal layout services, including memory layout in 45-nm and RF CMOS layout in 65-nm technology	Bangalore, Hubli
15.	STMicroelectronics	It employs over 1,650 engineers. The design center in India has contributed significantly to the development of chip technologies and products for a number of applications, including set top boxes, multimedia, imaging, wireless telecommunications, and automotive sectors	Noida, Bangalore
16.	SPEL Semiconductor	It is the leading one-stop turnkey wafer sort, IC assembly and test subcon facility in India. As a specialty, SPEL offers onsite and offshore test engineering support to customers	Chennai
17.	Texas Instruments	TI�s India center has over 1,600 engineers leading work in designing 90, 65, and 45 nm technologies, products for communications, wireless and personal electronics, and designs for DSP devices, the company�s flagship product line. TI India has been awarded the highest number of patents (225) for any R&D center in India	Bangalore
18.	Tata Elxsi	Tata Elxsi's 2,500 plus strong team provides expertise in VLSI design, embedded software, networking, telecom, multimedia, and storage, among other areas	Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram
19.	Wipro Technologies	The company�s VLSI and systems design team handles projects in mixed-signal and digital ASIC/SoC, complex FPGA and board designs, enclosure/chassis designs and core technology IP blocks. The 1,700-member team is often at the cutting-edge of technology�manipulating more than 40 mn gate designs, 65 nm geometries, high-end FPGAs and 28-layer boards	Bangalore
20.	Xilinx	The design center has over ninety engineers working mostly on IP development for telecommunications, consumer electronics, and automotive applications for worldwide customers	Hyderabad