Microsemi to ramp up Hyderabad R&D centre

Microsemi Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed semiconductor technology provider, would come out with 40 and 20 nanometre (nm) embedded flash (eFlash) technology from its Hyderabad research and development centre.

“We plan to continue the technology development for 40 nm and 20 nm chips, and the evaluation work has already started at the Hyderabad R&D centre,” said Esam Elashmawi, vice-president (product development), Microsemi Corporation. The company on Tuesday launched its 65 nm eFlash technology.

“With the 65 nm technology, the increase in density and improvements in power and performance allow us to target a much larger portion of industrial, medical, defence security, aerospace, avionics, communications and consumer markets," he said. Microsemi's SOCs (system-on-chips) products division, formerly known as Actel Corporation, has developed this technology.

The company’s Indian market share is higher than its global share. Its major market share in India comes from the aerospace segment, which accounts for 30-40 per cent.

Microsemi is growing at 15 per cent annually and registered revenues of close to $800 million. Actel Corporation, which the company recently acquired for $450 million, contributes around 30 per cent to the revenues.

Hyderabad R&D centre
Microsemi is planning to increase the headcount at its Hyderabad R&D centre to 130 from the current 100 engineers by next year, said Elashmawi. “We will recruit more engineers according to the requirement and expansion.”

“The Hyderabad R&D centre is the biggest product development centre for Microsemi post its Actel acquisition and is responsible for all our innovations, including the 65 nm flash technology,” he added.

Stating that the company was planning to set up a manufacturing unit the country, he said, “India is a potential market for us to set up a manufacturing base, as it's cheaper to produce here.” Microsemi currently outsources its products.