Bangalore: Infineon Technologies R&D Center Bangalore Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of Infineon Technologies (formerly the 100 per cent semiconductor division of Seimens) is drawing up strategic R&D focus plans, to actively get into developing system-on-a-chip applications, for computing and intelligent storage area networks. SEIMENS incidentally divested approximately 30 per cent of its 100 per cent holding in the company through a public issue in March 2000.Speaking on the new focus areas, company director, A Brahmayya told eFe that the company's four main focus groups-- chip card, wireless, automobile, computers & network peripherals groups would all develop a suite of system-on-a-chip applications pertaining to each segment. While the applications in the GSM and wireless sector would focus on chips for smart cards and wireless/radio modems, the computers & peripherals division would look at developing chipsets for the new generation of intelligent disk drives, Brahmayya said. "The new generation ofdisk drives will have more than one terabyte of memory and need to be powered by intelligent chipsets.
Infineon incidentally makes chipsets exclusively for the hard-disk major - Seagate. The focus will be on integrating interfaces, DSP and general purpose computing on a single chip," he said. Infineon is also looking at enhancing its embedded applications for household appliances (specifically Seimens products), and consumer oriented devices like palm tops and wireless applications.
On the new technologies front, the company's 0.18 micron `Tricore' technology chips (which have the highest density that can be packed on a chip and with processing speeds of 250 million instructions per second) have been released. These chips, which are a combination of DSP's and micro-controllers are built for real-time applications. "The focus is on creating new applications based on VLSI (very large scale integration) technology for processors, and also manufacturing chips on a large scale basis," Brahmayya said.
On theIndia-specific plans, he said that the focus was on software for both the system and application level. "We will look at designing new applications and technologies in core technology areas and mapping a wide variety of applications for the technologies," he added. The company is also drawing up plans to partner with premier technical institutes like IISc and IIT for joint new developments and research. The Bangalore design center is also looking at doubling its manpower base of 50 by end-2000, and investments in the range of Rs 8 crore are likely to be made for the purpose. However details are currently being worked out.
Marketing overdrive in the offingInfineon Technologies is looking at commencing aggressive marketing operations in India with a view to expanding its market share. The company is looking at building up an OEM channel in the household appliances, telephones, digital phones and manufacturing segment in India, as part of its marketing initiatives. The company also develops memories forDynamic RAMs (DRAMs) which is also a key focus market in India.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.