IT major invests $22 million in Bengaluru post-silicon engineering facility to provide capital-efficient testing infrastructure for fabless startups and global clients.
Noida-headquartered IT services provider HCLTech has initiated commercial operations at its newly commissioned Advanced Semiconductor Lab in Bengaluru. The facility aims to support domestic fabless startups alongside global technology clients by delivering end-to-end post-silicon engineering, advanced testing, and failure analysis services.
Outlining early traction at the site, Ameer Saithu, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Semiconductor Business at HCLTech, stated: “We commissioned the lab, and we are already serving customers. Some customers, including global ones, have been quick to recognise the need for such facilities… we have already executed commercial programmes through this lab.”
HCLTech invested $22 million (₹185 crore) to build the 25,000-square-foot facility, which features Class 10K and Class 1K cleanrooms. Equipped with high-precision instruments from Teradyne, Advantest, Keysight, Tektronix, and Thermo Fisher Scientific, the lab supports research, pre-production, and full production qualification.
The facility addresses high capital expenditure barriers by offering specialized equipment under a pay-per-use model. Saithu highlighted this strategic advantage, noting: “There are certain low-volume but capital-intensive processes. HCLTech has provided an infrastructure that companies can use as-a-service rather than incur capital equipment cost themselves.” He added: “It is also most important for India’s semiconductor ecosystem, where either the fabless companies – or startups – are short of capital, and we are able to provide that as a service.”
This expansion aligns with broader national efforts under the India Semiconductor Mission, where HCL Group has separately partnered with Foxconn in a $440 million (₹3,700 crore) joint venture, India Chip Private Limited, to construct an OSAT facility in Jewar, Greater Noida.
By leveraging domain expertise across automotive, healthcare, and telecommunications, HCLTech aims to position itself as a strategic co-development partner for custom domain-specific silicon. Saithu concluded: “We have performed that flexible co-development partnership model. Now, it is coming that even in the silicon side, as you need to be a co-development partner… That is the way in which we are planning to implement that.”
