$14 Bn to flow into the Indian Semiconductor industry
By Pradeep Shankar   |   Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 00:52 IST
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Bangalore: India Semiconductor Association (ISA) hosted their global conference 'Vision Summit 2008' on Monday, February 18, 2008 at the Leela Palace, Bangalore. The event has participation from business leaders, technology leaders, venture capitalists, analysts, academia, policy makers and global media. This year the Vision Summit addressed the evolving domestic market, which is the growth driver for the Indian electronics eco-system. Chief Guest, Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Commerce, Government of India, said, "The roll out of the semiconductor policy is a clear indication of the synergy between the industry and the government. Though only time will tell whether the exuberance that the policy has created is rational or irrational, it is clear that the numbers are staggering." Within the Fab City in Hyderabad, 12,000 acres has been declared as Special Economic Zone (SEZ). There are seven confirmed investments to be setup in the Fab City. These add up to $7 billion to be invested over a 10-year period. Five investments given in principle add up to $1 billion. Another five proposals worth $6 billion are under active consideration. "I hope this will not be just paper entrepreneurism and will fructify. However, these are staggering numbers that speak about the success of the semicon policy. For semiconductor to be the next frontier, we need infrastructure, scale and alliances like the ISA," commented Ramesh. In the inaugural keynote A H Premji, Chairman, Wipro addressed on the theme, 'Evolving Domestic Market - Growth Driver for the Indian Electronics Industry.' According to him, with India supplying innovative products to firms and geographies across the globe, the Indian subcontinent seems to have largely not been impacted by the product innovation cycle. So what can be done by firms with successful products worldwide to extend their success to the Indian markets? Premji said, "First, we must ensure that technological and managerial innovation go hand in hand. Second, work on creating an entrepreneurial spirit within the organization is to be encouraged. Third, collaborate and co-innovate in the evolving ecosystem." Special Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar underlined the growing importance of India as a manufacturing hub especially to manage geo-political risks and to address the Indian market. ISA President Poornima Shenoy stressed on the need to meet the business interests of the industry through partnerships and on making decisions based on credible statistics. She spoke of the India story and its growing importance and relevance to the global investor community. More than a dozen speakers elaborated on a variety of issues at the summit. Taking a slice of the proceedings, the speakers included Lynelle McKay, Senior Vice President & General Manager Networking & Multimedia, Freescale Semiconductor who spoke on 'Designing for Energy Efficiency'. This was followed by Alan Nakamoto, VP & Founder, PMC-Sierra, who spoke on business development, R&D and intangibles being the three pillars of successful design centers. Chinnu Senthilkumar, Director, Sandisk India Device Design Centre dwelled on 'Digital content migrating to people's pockets'.

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