Cadence to up R&D output from India

With India emerging as the second largest research and development (R&D) centre for Cadence Design Systems, which specialises in electronic design and automation (EDA) tools and services, the company has chalked out plans to significantly increase the share of R&D output from its Indian operations.

An early entrant to India, Cadence set up its R&D centre at Noida, way back in 1987. Now, with a headcount of close to 1,000, Cadence India accounts for 22 per cent of the company's worldwide R&D strength and 18 per cent of its total staff (5,200).

"The Indian R&D centre is the largest outside the US (where 1,200 professionals are employed across multiple locations). The Indian R&D centre handles the entire product portfolio of Cadence starting from EDA tools for designing, to verifying advanced semiconductors for various sectors. We expect the R&D work to increase 15 per cent depending on what the business requires," Cadence Design Systems (India) managing director Jaswinder S Ahuja, told Business Standard.

Apart from the US and India, the $1.5 billion company operates R&D centres in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Israel, China, Taiwan, Japan and Russia.

However, these R&D centres with a smaller headcount focus only on particular products unlike India, which is a microcosm of Cadence's entire research and development competency.

"Cadence has a 20-year-history in India and the R&D centre has developed individual level of ownership for various products. India is a critical and essential part of our business strategy. It is viewed as the most successful global R&D centre for Cadence. It is now assisting setting up of new R&D centres in other geographies," Ahuja pointed out.

Another factor driving Cadence's growth in India is the development of the local electronics industry. India is considered the fastest growing market for Cadence in the Asia Pacific region.

"In the last four years, India grew phenomenally. We are catering to almost all of the electronics design firms, including chip designing companies," he said.

Apart from the R&D operations, the US-based company manages global customer care centres in Bangalore and Noida.