The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.
February - 2003 - issue > In My Opinion
It's Beginning to Add Up, Now
Dr. Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra
OF LATE I HAVE BEEN NOTICING THAT THE different pieces of the story are beginning to point towards a common vector. The ecosystem seems to be building. These events reinforce in me the strong belief that India can—given the right conditions—become a silicon design powerhouse. I have been fortunate to be involved in this field at a time when software services—let alone silicon design—was unheard of in India.
Over the past decade and more, even before the software services companies were carving out an impressive resume of global clients and convincing the world of the India value proposition, a succession of semiconductor companies decided to come to India to leverage the two greatest advantages of Indian IT - cost and access to talent.
The design ecosystem
“But why a powerhouse only now?†you might ask. Companies have been leveraging Indian expertise in this field since 1985, when Texas Instruments first set up shop in Bangalore. While the value proposition is the same as in the software services sector, the difference is that silicon design or IC design needs an entire ecosystem in place before we can think of India as an IC design powerhouse. And this has just begun to happen.
One very important element in the IC design domain is Electronic Design Automation (EDA). Universities that train students in Microelectronics and access to state-of-the-art design infrastructure are some other key components. Today, it is this partnership in India between semiconductor companies, EDA companies, universities, hardware and software vendors that has just begun to flower.
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