Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek has said it is bullish on India and expects to grow in R&D and market penetration. Speaking to Digitimes Asia recently, Anku Jain, MD of MediaTek India, mentioned although the pace of growth will depend on various factors, they are committed to growing their presence here.
"In India, we started in 2004 with our R&D center in Noida, and in 2014, we opened our Bangalore office," said Jain. "We currently have about 1,000 engineers in India, which is significant. Our expansion plans include further growth in our R&D capabilities and market penetration over the next few years."
Taking advantage of local talent
One of the main reasons for MediaTek's optimism is the availability of talent and the developing semiconductor ecosystem. Both these make India a key area for growth in R&D for MediaTek.
"We are involved in both hardware and software design," Jain said. "India serves as an extension of our global R&D, closely collaborating with our international teams. We are engaged across all the verticals we lead in globally, such as smartphones, smart TVs, automotive, IOT, and Chromebooks."
But that doesn't mean that finding talent in India has been easy. Jain pointed out that there are specific challenges involved.
"We've been navigating these waters for the last 20 years," Jain said. "It's not easy, and we have to work quite hard to find the right talent because our requirements are quite stringent. Our focus on innovation and research means that we are very careful about the talent we hire, which sometimes means it takes longer than we hope to find the right people. But that's typical in any developer or researcher role and any talent market. However, we have been managing these challenges quite well, and as a result, we have grown to 1,000 employees. We are experienced in overcoming these obstacles."
Targeting the Indian market
The Indian market is an important area for MediaTek. Besides its traditional strongholds, the company also designs chips for areas like automotive.
"Looking at it from a high level, we are engaged in both hardware and software design," said Jain. "These crucial aspects are being handled in India, which essentially serves as an extension of our global R&D. Our team here works very closely with other teams worldwide, effectively integrating into our global operations."
The company has specific R&D roles for different teams, encompassing hardware and software design. "We are involved in various verticals where we hold a leading global position, such as smartphones, smart TVs, automotive, Chromebooks, IOT, and others, and we are engaging with these sectors in India as well," Jain added.
Leveraging local chip manufacturing
India's entry into semiconductor manufacturing has spurred much discussion. Recent developments include the announcement of a wafer fab by Tata in collaboration with Taiwan's PSMC, along with several chip packaging units. MediaTek is closely monitoring these developments, considering how to best leverage them.
"It's a very exciting development," said Jain. "We are potentially seeing multiple new chip manufacturing facilities being established in India. This is fantastic for India and represents a significant achievement in a strategic sector."
"Over the next few years, we may see the outcomes of these manufacturing facilities, although I can't specify exactly when—perhaps in two or three years. MediaTek is primarily a fabless design company, and traditionally, our manufacturing is done by semiconductor foundries like TSMC in Taiwan. Once these new manufacturing projects in India mature and align with our requirements, we will be ready to collaborate with them and may even source chips from them."
Collaborating with local fabless startups
Although the interest in manufacturing locally has grown in India, it cannot eclipse the existing strength of semiconductor design companies. Within this, fabless startups occupy a special place, offering much innovation. Jain pointed out that this is a potential area of collaboration for MediaTek.
"We keep our eyes open," Jain said. "The fabless ecosystem in India is quite exciting, and we always look out for what new developments are happening here. However, at the moment, we are more focused on our global R&D efforts and how we can contribute to designs that have chips designed and launched globally, including in India. So, our focus is primarily on these activities."
