The rapidly growing domestic demand and strong support from the government are making India the fastest growing semiconductor market worldwide. According to Gartner, the region is leading the Asia-Pacific in terms of growth, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent from 2007 to 2012.
“It’s a matter of great pride for us that in spite of the challenges, the response of the industry is very encouraging. Maybe it’s because of the intrinsic strengths that our [high tech] companies have that they are able to take and strive at the variations that are taking place,” says Shri Ashok Kumar C. Manoli, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Karnataka, at the opening ceremony of the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) India 2008 here in Bangalore yesterday.
ESC Bangalore, which focuses on the embedded systems design industry and is the fourth leg of TechInsight’s ESC India 2008 series, will feature interactive presentations given by a host of renowned industry experts, sponsored tutorials given by leading vendors, and exhibition halls. The event is being held this week, Oct. 14 to 17, at the NIMHANS Convention Center.
Embedded systems design is one of the core enabling technologies at the heart of India’s emerging innovation economy and is a significant design engineering discipline. “Along with semiconductors, this discipline is destined to play a significant role in the creation of regional wealth for this engineering-centric nation,” says Richard Wallace, VP, Global Development, and Group Editorial Director, TechInsights.
Design engineers in India are behind some of the world’s most advanced chip, board, and system level designs from multinational companies like Intel Corp., Texas Instruments Inc., NXP Semiconductors, as well as homegrown companies such as Tejas Networks and Mistral, to name just a few.
“These engineers have a burning hunger for knowledge about all types of leading edge design tools and methodologies, new hardware and software products and a growing curiosity about an expanding range of segment-specific technical design topics in vertical markets from wireless communications to automotive electronics. Indian design engineers are destined not just to build systems for global export, but to fulfill India’s rapidly developing domestic market demand for everything from mobile handsets to the onboard electronic control systems in the Tata Nano, the hottest thing on four wheels,” says Wallace.
Bangalore leads India’s embedded design industryBangalore is considered the IT capital of India. For the past five years, about 37 to 38 percent of software exports of the country are from the units based here. When it comes to semiconductor design, Bangalore is likewise the leader, accounting for 80 percent of the overall chip design capability of the country.
However, despite having a strong design capability, the transfer of design to manufacturing is still weak in the region. “We really don’t have the companies which would have translated them [design capabilities] into the manufacturing part of it. The chip making, the hardware part, is still dominated by China and other countries,” says Manoli.
In line with this, Manoli says the new government has announced a number of incentives and initiatives that will make the system easier and friendlier for companies to carry out their investments and activities. He also adds that the state is developing progressive semiconductor policies, and very soon will come out with fast track solutions that will focus on the latest technologies.
“We understand that so much is taking place and more and more technologies have been advancing the embedded software. We need to be at the same tune with the changing technology; therefore we are very particular that the policies will come out. And once they come out, the industry will find it far more acceptable, in addition to what the government of India’s semiconductor policy is now. The state is with the industry in terms of the expansion of activities and in making the entire ecosystem far more meaningful and free,” says Manoli.
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