Indian chip companies get together

Move to capture total value

In a major effort to catalyse the Indian semiconductor industry to the next level of growth and global prominence, a clutch of companies operating in this space have come together to form the Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA).

ISA will attempt to create global awareness about the Indian semiconductor industry outside of the generic 'IT' umbrella, create a win-win interaction among industry, government, academia and venture capitalists, foster proactive collaboration between industry and universities to generate a larger world-class talent pool, drive the technology vision for the industry and identify investment opportunities for the companies present in India.

Announcing the technology body, Sridhar Mitta, managing director of e4e Labs who will be the chief mentor of ISA said: "The Indian semiconductor industry is thriving, but we have not been able to capture the value of the work done here. With this association, we will create a synergy between the entire chain of semiconductor product companies here in India and capture the full value of work being done out of India."

He further added that this ecosystem of companies will strive to derive latent value and promote the industry as the next major opportunity for the Indian technology sector.

According to ISA, the semiconductor industry in India is doing work worth approximately $100 million and employs close to 25,000 professionals in 125 companies, 75 of which are in Bangalore.

Said Janakiraman, head of R&D services of Mindtree and Executive Council Member of ISA: "Over the last two decades, while the Indian semiconductor has grown to become the essential part of any semiconductor-related engineering activity at the global level, for it to live up to its potential, a pressing need exists for India to raise its performance many notches in the value chain and for a conducive ecosystem. This will become a reality only under a body with insights and able to give undivided attention."

ISA already has a membership of 35 companies and is getting more enquiries both nationally and internationally.

This body will participate in the forthcoming Bangalore IT.COM 2004 and also host a one-day conference 'Semiconductor Industry in India: The Next Big Thing' during this event.

ISA member companies include Broadcom India, Magma Design, Insilica and Agere Systems among others.