Monday, June 24, 2013: Fujitsu Semiconductor Asia Pte Ltd (FSAL), a 100 per cent subsidiary owned by Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited, views India as a very important consumer market. Fujitsu has two types of businesses in India—one is direct business, which comes from Singapore, and the other is through its partners, which include distributors, design houses and Tier I companies that directly sell to the end-users.
About 80 per cent of Fujitsu’s business in India is through direct sales and only 20 per cent is through its partners. Presently, the automotive sector is the biggest source of business for Fujitsu in India. Other markets are industrial, consumer and wireless, that the company caters to with its MCUs, energy meters, AC-DC converters, etc.
In an exclusive interview with EFY, Haresh Abichandani, managing director, Millennium Semiconductor, Fujitsu’s partner in India, talks about Fujitsu’s strategies to increase its market share in the country.
Tell us about the alliance between Millennium and Fujitsu?
The alliance between Millennium and Fujitsu started in 2010. Initially, our major focus was on the automotive sector as we are very strong in this segment—Fujitsu is No. 1 in the automotive segment in Japan. But now, we are also focusing on the consumer and power segments. We represent the entire line of Fujitsu’s semiconductor products.
Besides automotive, which are the other verticals where you see growth for Fujitsu in India?
Besides automotive, we are targeting the set-top box market, which can be one of the biggest markets for Fujitsu. We are also focusing on the consumer home appliances market, for which Fujitsu offers solutions for washing machines, water purifiers, etc. The solar market is also another sector of interest for us.
Although we sell Fujitsu’s products across South Asia and have some clients in Sri Lanka, we are currently focusing on India. Here, we see demand for Fujitsu solutions more in the North and West than in the South, because the automotive clusters are in Pune and Manesar. However, we are trying to spread our wings across the Asia region as well.
The automotive industry registered low growth last year. How has that affected Fujitsu’s business?
The two-wheeler segment is doing well and has grown by 12 per cent last year. Fujitsu’s major business comes from two wheelers with applications like BCO, BCM, CDI and regular terminals—in all these areas, we are promoting Fujitsu. Hence, Fujitsu’s business has not been affected much.
However, Fujitsu, which is strong in high-end solutions, needs to penetrate the low-end solutions segment fast.
Although it has low-end products, its entry into this segment has been late. Fujitsu has been in India for the last eight years, whereas its competitors have been here for almost 20 years. So Fujitsu will take some more time to become popular in every segment.
How are you promoting Fujitsu as a brand?
Fujitsu is a known brand in India, but a little less popular in the design community. That’s the reason we are actively indulging in brand-building activities and participating in all the expos with Fujitsu’s frontline products. Through these exhibitions we get to know more clients. We are also planning to conduct seminars, workshops and road shows. Recently, we did a road show for the automotive sector.
Besides, every second month a delegate from Japan comes to India to study the needs and buying capacity of the Indian customers, the buying trends in the market, etc.
How do you reach out to your customers?
We are catering to more than 700 customers currently, from a database of around 2000. We have representatives in Nashik, Cochin and Coimbatore, besides the metro cities, to reach out to customers region-wise.
How do you plan to take forward your partnership with Fujitsu?
We look forward to intensify the relationship with Fujitsu through new activities, technical support, and close collaboration on services. For the last two years we have been supporting each other and trying to increase Fujitsu’s market share in India. Through our hard work and strategic planning we will make Fujitsu’s brand name more popular in the coming years. We plan to further fine-tune our strategies to maximise potential sales through our network.
Spansion to acquire microcontroller and analogue business from Fujitsu
For details, check: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/month/2013/20130430-02.html
