Qualcomm develops WiFi chips in India and invests heavily in the country

Latest update time：2024-01-16

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Source : Content compiled from businessoutreach by Semiconductor Industry Observation (ID: i c bank), thank you.

US-headquartered Qualcomm wants to assist large and medium-sized companies in establishing semiconductor operations in India as one of its main goals in 2024. It has also increased investments in India, namely design, research and development in Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.

"Given our scale and understanding, we can certainly help drive the semiconductor ecosystem, just like we have done with other companies in other regions," Qualcomm India president Savi Soin told Moneycontrol in an interview.

At the end of last year, Qualcomm said it was working closely with the Indian government and the Tata Group to investigate local packaging of its new PC processors as soon as possible.

“Qualcomm’s global scale makes it so that anyone building a semiconductor back-end or fab in India will want access to Qualcomm’s volume. They are looking for anyone who can; we are looking for customers who can provide the technology and scale, and we meet that Those two requirements," he said.

The company is also looking to form strategic alliances with small local semiconductor startups. "We can't make chips, processors and software for all categories and devices... We're looking for partners to supplement what we don't supply."

Qualcomm Ventures, the commercial team and venture capital arm of Qualcomm India, is exploring ways to partner with Indian companies. The company also offers a semiconductor mentorship program to help these startups, Soin said. "[Ours] is helping to expand and accelerate India's semiconductor strategy."

On January 7, the US company announced its intention to invest Rs 177.27 crore to open a new design center to expand its operations in Chennai. This will serve as Qualcomm's center of expertise for developing Wi-Fi 6 and 7 connected devices. It intends to create positions for up to 1,600 competent personnel.

Soin said the Chennai plant will not be the only investment in 2024 as the company intends to invest in more facilities.

"We are looking at several investments. You will see several announcements from us. 2024 is going to be a big year for us. We have significant investments in Hyderabad, Noida, Chennai and Bengaluru "Every fiscal year, we grow," he said.

Qualcomm is also focusing on India’s startup landscape through its different units, including Qualcomm Ventures.

"The goal of the Qualcomm team is to identify these companies...some need guidance, guidance, technical help and funding. This is one of my top three goals for India. Building and growing these Indian companies is critical. Being able to manufacture products in India companies are critical to us,” said Soin.

He said that Qualcomm India's technical team has begun to provide assistance to global teams in the field of 6G and next-generation satellite communication standardization. "For 6G, we have a dedicated team in India."

However, he believes that before 6G, 5G must flourish in India through significant use cases and broad acceptance among Indian customers.

"All [use cases] need to be specific to India...many organizations are grappling with certain business model difficulties. "It's just a matter of time before this gets resolved," he said.

When asked about Qualcomm's role in creating specific 5G use cases, he said Qualcomm India is using the country's private network to conduct a proof of concept (PoC) around worker safety.

He said 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is an important use case as it can connect disconnected people in the country.

The company intends to work with all satellite communications providers, including those looking to operate in India. "We will work with all necessary stakeholders in the appropriate groups to deliver the service. We have previously announced that we will support non-terrestrial networks (NTN).

Soin believes that satellite communications will be useful for the Indian emergency communications market and in areas where standard telecom services are difficult to provide. "Once we have the right constellation up and running, this will be a very good feature for Indian consumers."

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