Saturday, December 13, 2003
Intel bullish on India Chip giant has invested $57m in R&D in the past year
Our Corporate Bureau Published : December 13, 2003
The world's largest microprocessor maker, Intel Corporation, has invested $57 million in research and development in India in the last 12 months.
Besides, the company has also increased the headcount to 1,400 from about 850 in the beginning of the year in the research and development.
"India is the largest research and development site for Intel outside the US. We are investing in the country to take advantage of the opportunities available," said Anand Chandrasekhar, vice-president (mobile platforms), Intel, at a seminar organised by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (Mait). Intel has chip design and development centres in India and Israel outside the US.
Drawing a comparison between India and China, he said, in China the company has invested $50 million and has about 900 engineers.
Projecting India as a centre of Intel's core chips development work as against China where only localisation and software development takes place, he said, "We will have the next generation mobile chipset and processors for server rolled out of the Bangalore centre." According to him, the next generation mobile chipset will be launched next year.
The chip design team, at its Bangalore development centre, is also engaged in high-end, 32-bit Intel architecture microprocessor design and development for servers and large computers.
Intel has been adding new product development and design activity in India in the recent times.
The company is developing its new Intel Xeon processors here. Besides, the company has also established Asia's first design team to focus on the enhancement and development of next generation Intel Centrino Mobile Technology at Bangalore.
The company is also raising the profile of its centres in India. The company has planned an investment of $41 million in building a new campus in Bangalore.
The 43-acre facility, which has an initial capacity to house over 1,000 engineers, would undertake research in the areas of hardware and software design, validation, systems engineering and development for next generation microprocessors, semiconductors and memory technologies.
Opened in Bangalore in 1998, the Intel India development center (IIDC) provides leading edge hardware and software solutions designed to provide Intel a competitive advantage in the market place. The center focuses on increasing Intel's design and development capabilities.
Business Standard Ltd.