Qualcomm has the largest number of engineers working out of India, with nearly 17,000 of its global workforce of around 40,000 based in the country.
Semiconductor giant Qualcomm is significantly increasing its investments in India, aiming to outpace its rivals AMD and Micron, according to Savi Soin, president of Qualcomm India. The company’s investments in India have seen double-digit growth year over year for the past five years, with plans to spend over USD 1 billion in India this year.
Qualcomm is in discussions with several chip manufacturers to produce chipsets under the government’s incentive scheme for semiconductors, with plans to collaborate with companies like the Tata Group and HCL. The company is leveraging its deep technical expertise to support the development of new fabrication capabilities and ensure price competitiveness.
The Indian government is working closely with Qualcomm to develop a semiconductor ecosystem in the country. Qualcomm has the largest number of engineers working out of India, with nearly 17,000 of its global workforce of around 40,000 based in the country.
Soin highlighted the scale of Qualcomm’s commitment, noting that the company spends in four months what AMD plans to spend in four to five years, and in eight months what Micron plans to spend over a decade.
In 2022, AMD announced its intention to invest USD 400 million in India over the next five years, while Micron committed to investing USD 825 million in phases in a new chip assembly and test facility in Gujarat. Micron’s total investment in the facility is expected to reach USD 2.75 billion, with 50% coming from the Central government and 20% from the state government. The first phase of the facility is set to be operational later this year, with the second phase expected to start in the latter half of the decade.
Soin mentioned that Qualcomm is aggressively hiring in India, as the market is ready for growth across sectors such as automotive and 5G. Despite flat growth in the smartphone segment, Qualcomm is diversifying its focus to include automotive, PCs, next-gen technologies like AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The company is particularly bullish on hybrid AI, on-device AI, and the potential of the Metaverse and Extended Reality (XR). Over the next five years, Qualcomm plans to make significant investments in these areas, doubling down on bringing use cases for on-device AI to mobile devices, among other initiatives.
