India has emerged as a semiconductor talent hub: AMD's Mukesh Bajpai
The US chipmaker sees a long-term investment in India, involving the establishment of research and development hubs, brand footprint, sales and marketing, and other functions.
India has strengthened its position as a true talent hub in the semiconductor industry, Mukesh Bajpai, Head of Marketing, AMD India said in a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder & CEO, YourStory, at India's largest startup-tech event, TechSparks 2023, in Delhi.
Bajpai highlighted India's growing significance in the semiconductor industry and AMD's commitment to invest approximately $400 million in the country over the next five years.
AMD plans on creating roughly 3,000 new engineering positions by the conclusion of 2028, according to an earlier statement by the company.
“These new roles have taken our R&D strength to 10,000+ in India, making up over 25% of our global research and development of AMD across the globe. This plays a crucial role in developing our products, further strengthening India's position as a talent hub," Bajpai said.
As part of this investment, AMD plans to establish a new campus in Bengaluru, that will become its largest design centre. It is expected to open before the end of 2023.
Local innovation in India
Electronics manufacturing in the country is expected to cross Rs 1.28 lakh crore in the next financial year, according to Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Speaking on how startups can benefit from AMD, Bajpai said, “Technology plays an important role in managing a startup. The minimum requirement is a laptop. AMD is present in laptops, data centres, and local cloud service providers that most startups use today. We enable them at a far less cost than our competitors.”
He elaborated on the company's commitment to assisting businesses in developing their communication technology. Moreover, AMD aims to support local vendors–aligning with the Make in India initiative– fostering domestic manufacturing and economic growth.
AMD has recently launched the "Accelerate Bharat" initiative, reaching out to Tier II cities and convening 50 startups in an event. The initiative involves training sessions covering diverse areas such as HR management, technology, and operational strategies at all levels. Commenting on the progress, he said, "We have engaged with five to six towns to date and are gearing up for the next stage in 2024."
“AMD sees a long-term investment in India–setting up R&D hubs, brand footprint, sales and marketing, and other functions. We will continue to maintain that trajectory,” added Bajpai. He also highlighted the company's role in introducing APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) to the market, which integrates both CPU and GPU on a single platform for enhanced performance capabilities.
Bajpai underscored AMD's chip dominance in the top 5 of the world's top 10 supercomputers, citing examples like the Frontier supercomputer in Tennessee, USA.
To add more context, AMD's FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) technology plays a pivotal role in space missions. It also powered the Chandrayaan mission to the Moon's south pole on August 23, 2023.
Founded in 1969, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) is an American multinational semiconductor company that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets.
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti