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to do what it does best: software. Besides, India could only qualify for testing and assembly facilities and not full blown fabs to begin with. Testing and assembly combined with software expertise would be a great proposition, they say.

“I do not believe we have missed the bus on manufacturing in semiconductors. These are capital-intensive projects and we have done the right thing by not jumping into investing in fab(s) as a matter of national ego but take a more cautious approach and do so to generate positive returns,” says Pradip K Dutta, president of Synopsys India.

Without any doubt, India is a growing market for electronic products and is expected to reach $363 billion by 2015, growing at a CAGR of nearly 30%. There is a strong link between semiconductors and electronics, with chips driving the innovation in electronic equipment. Having emerged as a major design centre for integrated circuits (ICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and systems-on-chips (SoCs), this growth pattern is indicative of the potential of the domestic semiconductor industry.

According to industry experts, the demands for designs have increased from the Indian semiconductor industry. With the rate of consumption increasing at the end market, companies are under pressure to bring down the cost of chips. And, with the increase in profitability in testing and marketing, the country is yet to tap the full potential in testing and packaging industry, they feel.

On the technology front, Texas Instruments India managing director Bobby Mitra feels that the focus is increasingly shifting into application processing. “There is a trend towards media convergence in the wireless handset. An example is having internet, camera, music, TV, video and gaming on a handset.”

Similarly, JA Chowdary, president TiE, Hyderabad says that only solar module manufacturing activities are centred in the country and that too, at the module level and not at the silicon level.

Meanwhile, outsourcing in the semiconductor industry is bound to fix the right chips on the board with both design and chip industries establishing captive houses in the country. In all probability, the country is poised to see a success story of a ‘Golden Triangle’ to be established between Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. While Bangalore hopes to become the design hub, Hyderabad is set to be the hub for chip manufacturing and Chennai is expected to gives its share in the manufacturing sector.