For millions of cell phone users across the world there is something to cheer about.

Software programmers at Infineon technologies’ Bangalore development center are busy in developing reference platform for smart phones on Linux operating system. And if they succeed in their effort it will definitely bring down the cost of handsets, which normally works on Symbian, Microsoft, or Palm operating systems.

The amount of royalty paid by the handset manufacturers is as high as $10 per phone. But by using a Linux based operating system the cell phone makers would probably pay $2-3 as royalty. And it’s a real good news for millions of cell phone users, says Santanagopalan Surya, Senior Vice President & Managing Director and head of Corporate Software, Infineon technologies.

Surya is pretty optimistic about the growth of Linux based phones in the near future and expressed optimism that in the next few years at least twenty handset manufactures are expected to adopt this new operating system as reference platform. And if that happens Infineon’s Bangalore development center will act as a hub for all the software related development activities for smart phones.

Infineon’s Linux initiative is based on the assumption that within next three years at least 15 percent of the handsets globally would be built on Linux reference platform. In that case, Bangalore’s Infineon development center will emerge as the Linux center of competence.

Apart from building Linux-based reference platforms for smart phones, the company is building software components like stacks, protocols and low-end drivers for the wireless, wireline and automotive industries from its Bangalore development center.

“Infineon is a strong semiconductor products company. We are now transforming into a semiconductor solutions provider, which would mean that the software component that drives the chipsets is going to increase dramatically,” he says.

“My mission is to build a world-class software division to enable Infineon to become a semiconductor solutions provider. Software is a big piece for us and India is critical for all the software that goes into the chips. Hence, India center will act as a hub for all the software development related works.” The company is planning to increase its staff strength from the current 550 to 800 within two years.

Infineon, with more than 40 R&D centers worldwide and headquartered in Munich, has decided to move the bulk of its software development work to Bangalore. All other software development center heads of Infineon across the globe will report to Surya as the head of Infineon’s global software team. The presence of Surya at the Bangalore development center heading all the software related development work is a testimony to how much importance the is company is giving to Bangalore.

The center is well equipped to handle all components of the software involved in chip design. The company has also created an advanced development team to keep Indian developers informed about the latest developments in the technology domain.
Infineon’s Bangalore development center is well equipped to handle all software components of chip design. Infineon’s Bangalore software development team has recently developed low-end drivers for the automotive industry. But high-end drivers continue to be manufactured at the company’s Munich development center.

Such high-end drivers can only be made in India once the legacy issues pertaining to the domain knowledge of the German development team equal those of Indian developers. The German team’s collective knowledge is much higher since they have dealt with these issues for a considerable period of time.


In a global business scenario, the need for a global workforce is something which multi-national companies are realizing day by day. The best way to stay ahead of competition is reinvesting a considerable portion of the revenue in the R&D, product development and services offered to the customers.

For companies like Infineon, which have its finger on both chip design and developing software for the semiconductors, the future looks bright since semiconductor use will inevitably grow, as well as the software component used in the chip design and development.

Fabless designs and software components for the manufacturing sector are other potential growth areas that will probably drive Infineon’s future software growth and development work from India.