Freescale bets on Indian market to expand operations
Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 20:30 IST
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Bangalore: Freescale Semiconductor, the $5.8 billion global leader in design and manufacture of embedded systems for wireless, networking, consumer and industrial products, is scaling up its operations in India for increasing its market share in the subcontinent. With India emerging as the fastest growing market in telecom and consumer and industrial electronics arena, the US-based company's Indian subsidiary plans to ramp up its headcount from 800 to 1,500 over the next four years. "The expansion of India operations will make our Centre of Excellence for wireless and mobility software in Bangalore the largest software centre outside the US in SoC (systems-on-chip) integration and IP (intellectual property) design," said Freescale Semiconductor India Ltd country manager Sanjeev Keskar . The software centre, which focuses on developing software for cellular platforms, plays a vital role in next-generation mobile platform solutions and technologies and complements the research and development (R&D) and VLSI (very large systems integration) design projects carried out at its Noida facility near Delhi. "Our expansion plans include setting up support infrastructure to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and design services firms; offering technical support, including tools, testing and validation; prescribing industry standards and developing partnerships with vendors across verticals," Keskar told IANS. With increasing use of electronic components such as micro-controllers and sensors in the Indian automotive sector to comply with safety, emission and fuel-efficiency norms, the R&D and VLSI design centres are providing solutions to leading manufacturers of two-wheelers and four-wheelers. In the energy and industrial sectors, the subsidiary has initiated projects to offer electronic metres in place of mechanical, digital UPS systems and inverters and electric motors for better connectivity and efficient power management. "Our products address the performance spectrum with 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit solutions (micro-controllers) for automation and networking, security, motor control and point-of-sale applications," Keskar pointed out at the two-day annual Freescale Technology Forum (FTF), which got underway Tuesday. Similarly, in the consumer electronics segment, the company is working on solutions to improve the battery life in portable devices and making home entertainment, appliances and computer peripherals more intelligent, reliable and connected. Strategically associated with design services firms at one end and OEMs and EMS (electronic manufacturing services) providers at the other end, Freescale embedded processors help stakeholders drive advanced cell phones, manage Internet traffic and enable passenger/transport vehicles safer and more energy efficient. "Our integrated solutions span the application spectrum from next-generation networking equipment to engine control systems to emerging wireless innovations. As a leading supplier of semiconductors to the automotive industry, we put more silicon in automobiles than others," Keskar affirmed. Keeping in view the explosive growth in the sale of mobile handsets, leading to setting up of production plants by global players like Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, Freescale is bracing up to provide network infrastructure and base stations. "The mobile revolution in India has been phenomenal, surpassing even the growth rate of China. Based on current trends, the subscriber base is set to treble (300 million) by 2010 from 120 million this year. "In addition, migration to 3G platform will not only multiply the functions of handsets, but also provide huge opportunities to vendors, partners and service providers to offer a host of features and applications at affordable costs," Keskar added. At the second FTF, being attended by about 1,000 delegates from design services firms, electronic equipment manufacturers and transnationals, the company has demonstrated technologies that enable the latest applications such as videophone, networking for digital homes, network security, wireless broadband (WiMax) and VoIP. The Austin (Texas) headquartered company invests about $1.2 billion on R&D annually to develop new technologies and products to its end-customers and partners. Till 2005, Freescale had 5,500 patent families.
Source: IANS