NOIDA, Sept 11 (Askume) – Dutch company NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.O) will invest more than $1 billion in India to double its research and development efforts, its chief executive said on Wednesday, joining the ranks of global names betting on the country in hopes of making inroads in the industry.
“NXP is committed to doubling its R&D investment in the country to more than $1 billion over the next few years,” Chief Executive Kurt Sievers said at the Semicon India conference near New Delhi.
He said the company is in talks with the auto industry and other industries in the country, where it has four semiconductor design centres with about 3,000 employees.
Although chip manufacturing in India is still in its infancy, it is a key element of its economic strategy and India has set aside a $10 billion incentive package to strengthen its competitiveness with global chip manufacturing powerhouses such as Taiwan. India expects its semiconductor market to grow to US$63 billion by 2026.
Major companies such as Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) have opened multiple research and design centers in China, underscoring their growing importance in the global ecosystem, with the aim of expanding their presence in hubs such as China. And the Taiwan footprint should reduce dependency.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the event, “India’s contribution to the chip design industry is around 20% and is growing steadily. We are building a semiconductor workforce of 85,000 people, consisting of technicians, engineers and R&D experts.”
In February this year, India gave approval to companies like Tata Group and CG Power to build three semiconductor factories at a cost of Rs 1.26 trillion ($15 billion) to achieve India’s goal of becoming an electronics powerhouse.
Micron Technology (MU.O) Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said last year that the U.S. memory chip maker would set up a $2.7 billion testing and packaging plant in Gujarat that would help create about 5,000 jobs in the state.
Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O), a company that sells wafer-making equipment, said last June that itWill invest $400 million over four years to build a new engineering center in India .
NXP posted its worst quarterly revenue decline in four years in July and lower-than-expected revenue in the third quarter, raising concerns about demand for automotive chips. (1 USD = 83.9480 Indian rupees)
