Bangalore Real Estate Trends

WITH OVER 125 FIRMS AND GROWING, BANGALORE HAS ATTRACTED THE CREAM OF SEMICONDUCTOR DESIGN COMPANIES

When historians write about 20th century Bangalore,a milestone will definitely be recorded for 1985. That was the year Texas Instruments (TI), one of the largest and most respected chip design and manufacturing firms,decided to open a development centre in the city. Not only was it the first multinational to do so,it was the first Integrated Circuit (IC) design company to set foot in Bangalore.

It rapidly became watched by similar companies across the globe,for how could a still underdeveloped country have the capabilities of designing the heart of computers More than 1,000 engineers now work directly on IC design and embedded software development at TI while another 100 or so work in partnership on the design.

Jump to the present and its evident that TIs decision was bang-on.T I celebrated its quarter century in Bangalore recently. Today,the list of semiconductor design companies in Bangalore comprises the whos who of the IC world.

Analog Devices, Broadcom, Conexant, LSI Logic, NXP, Samsung, STMicro and a host of others are,shall we say, embedded in Bangalore.

Based on the success enjoyed by TI in building its latest ICs in India for wireless handsets (in which it has a dominant position),Bangalore is a much sought-after destination for newer firms wanting a piece of the action.

Most of these companies,in addition to having a captive design centre in India,leverage heavily on third party design houses like Wipro, Sasken, MindTree and others in sourcing Silicon IPs (SIP),executing part of the design chain activity, or developing complete IC designs.

IC design activities in Bangalore are well supported by the multinational EDA tool companies such as Cadence,Mentor and Synopsys through their direct presence here.In addition to being closer to the design chain activities,these companies also have their own design centres for gearing up with next-generation tools that support sub-micron designs and fabrication.

It is clear that an ecosystem for the sector has been firmly established.In fact,statistics support this observation: nearly 67% of the VLSI designers employed in the semiconductor design companies are based here,second only to Silicon Valley of California.Intel alone employs more than 2000 people in its major chip designing centre based in Bangalore.

The growing semiconductor ecosystem,strong IP protection and availability of talent are key factors contributing to the growth of Bangalore as a major semiconductor design cluster in the world.And theres no sign of slowdown in the sector in this city.For instance,Cisco recently announced that it would invest more than $700 million in its Indian operations in order to speed up the development of the chip design laboratory in Bangalore.

While industry grows,premium science centres in the city are also chipping in.Much research is being done on semiconductors is circuit design and signal processing at the Indian Institute of Science and IIIT-Bangalore.As for start-ups in this space,theres no let-up.

A recent venture offering analog and mixed-signal design and layout services is Sankalp Semiconductor.The firm plans to provide methodology and automationoriented high-end services and solutions in areas apart from Bangalore.The venture will utilise multiple groups working from smaller cities such as Hubli and eventually others.Using engineering students is an essential part of Sankalps development activities.

Various international teams from Taiwan,Japan,Israel continue to visit Indias silicon hub Bangalore,to explore partnerships in chip design and embedded software with its counterparts.In fact,the India Semiconductor Association (ISA),the only body for the semiconductor and electronics systems industry in India,is headquartered in Bangalore.

THIS IS A GLOBAL HUB FOR EXCELLENCE

ISA President POORNIMA SHENOY says the city is perfectly suited for the semiconductor industry in a Q & A

When was ISA set up and what was its purpose

ISA came into being in 2004 / 2005.It started with the need to address and recognize the needs of chip design and embedded software companies.We worked on the Semicon Policy 2007 for the government of India and the State Semicon Policy 2010 for the government of Karnataka.Now,we have extended our focus and membership to include Electronic Systems Design & Manufacturing including solar photovoltaics.Our aim is also to create a larger awareness of the capabilities of the Indian semiconductor and electronics industry,both within and outside the country.Further,we want to foster an enabling ecosystem that catalyses the sectors growth to further expand the available talent pool and identify investment opportunities.

What have been the goals of ISA and have they been met

The first five years of ISA have worked well in creating two landmark policies for the sector and has given us the ability to work with key ministries at the Centre and in at least five states.For the first time,there are credible and regular industry research reports that enable business planning.The ISA Vision Summit is now into its sixth year;it is now in the calendars of senior executives in the semicon and electronics industry in India and in several places outside too.
We believe in being a knowledge partner to the government by providing data for the growth of the sector that will have a positive impact on the economy.

ISA is working on a larger inclusiveness through the various market segments such as education,medical,consumer electronics,etc.We believe that enabling a greater energy efficiency in electronics will go a long way in creating an impact on the present and the future..

What are the challenges that associations like ISA have to overcome in order to get members to network

Like all industry bodies ISA is focused on working with the government on policy matters,providing credible data through research reports and publications in addition to providing networking through events.Our events have always had a high quality of delivery and interaction.We have been able to create neutral platforms for showcasing the capabilities of the industry.We are constantly being asked to create more events for networking.At present,we are doing so in Bangalore,Kolkata,Pune,Hyderabad and the National Capital Region within the country.This year,delegations to Taiwan,Israel and the UK will provide additional global opportunities too.

Do you see Bangalore continuing to be a hub for semicon design activity

Nearly 67% of Indias semicon design talent is in Bangalore city alone.The Whitefield-ORR-Koramangala belt is perhaps surpassed only by the Bay Area in its concentration of semicon companies.The best talent in the industry is drawn here because they know that are working on the best of products,designs,companies and with the best of brains.That is not easy to replicate.There are of course hubs like Pune which is focused on the auto segment.

What are the issues Bangalore needs to address in order to continue being a leader in this field

The professional in Bangalore, be it in hardware or software or textiles or education or healthcare, has a terrific sense of meeting commitments and a quest for quality. Just like Mumbai is the draw for top quality talent in advertising, finance or the media,Bangalore is the draw for the technology sector. The quality of design work here especially in chip design is complex and world class. The state government recognizes the contribution of this sector and the need to provide support to startups. It is the first state in the country to announce a state-specific Semicon Policy earlier in 2010 to abet the growth of both design and manufacturing in the sector. There are several platforms for interaction between industry and the government which create a favourable ecosystem.

_{Source:  TimesofIndia Dt: 20-8-10}