“It is a good thing. We have figured out new areas like physical AI and related infrastructure. Some of these new business lines are going to emerge,” she told reporters on Saturday after the groundbreaking ceremony of the HCL Group–Foxconn Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly Test (OSAT) joint venture unit at Jewar in Greater Noida.
The Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) industry has adapted to many technological cycles over the past few decades and has survived them all, she said, adding that the fear of job losses for freshers and entry-level jobs was misplaced.
“We have been the fastest growing in the last couple of years. If you look at our workforce, we have been fairly steady. We had a very good growth in revenue per employee. A lot of entry-level skills will get automated through AI, but the definition of entry-level will change,” she said.
Even in the current market scenario, HCLTech spends up to nine months training freshers before they can be moved into a billable role, Malhotra said.
“So, if the role changes, then the training changes, and therefore the skill changes. So for us, AI is going to be a force multiplier,” she said.
The HCL Group–Foxconn JV, which will set up the country’s first display driver chip packaging, assembly and testing unit, will have a capacity of 20,000 units and is likely to be ready by 2028, Malhotra said on Saturday.
Spread over nearly 48 acres in Jewar, the new plant is likely to meet nearly 25 per cent of the domestic demand for display driver chips once it starts commercial production in 2028, she said, adding that about 70–75 per cent of the chip uptake will be from domestic market consumers. The company will also aim to capitalise on Foxconn’s client network to reach customers in international markets, Malhotra said.
 "Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson, HCLTech")