India's Chip Industry

NXP Invests Over $1 Billion to Boost Semiconductor Research in India

NXP Semiconductors, a Dutch semiconductor company, on Wednesday announced an investment larger than $1 billion- or about Rs 8,398 crores- to double its research capacity in India, as the country places it at the heart of global semiconductor supply chains.

The ambitious plan was announced at the Semicon India conference by NXP CEO Kurt Sievers. As he reassured me, the company is committed to the growth of India, which in time, especially in several industries including automotive, can be even bigger. Now it has four semiconductor design centers there and about 3,000 employees.

India is finally on the semiconductor map. After an incentive package worth $10 billion from an ever-growing market, the country had a pole position to rival Taiwan for supremacy among chip-making hubs. Marked with the presence of global players like Nvidia and AMD, India has come to the fore on the world stage.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded optimistic about the Indian semiconductor industry, saying India has to its credit about 20% of the chip-designing talent in the world. He declared an ambition to create a manpower resource pool of 85,000 technicians, engineers, and R&D scientists.

An investment by NXP has been made in the wider vision of India emerging as an electronics powerhouse. The government in February gave clearance for three plants worth $15 billion to make semiconductors. Besides, other big companies such as Micron and Applied Materials have also announced colossal investments in the country, sealing the country's status as a global semiconductor powerhouse.