Microchip to invest $300 million in India in phases

NEW DELHI: Semiconductor company Microchip has earmarked $300 million for investment in India spread over multiple years, a senior company official has said. Microchip president-CEO Ganesh Moorthy said that the investment will be made in people, training and certain infrastructure like research and development centre, lab and equipment, and offices. “USD 300 million is a multi- year investment. There is no timeline set for it as it will depend on business opportunities. Sometimes growth is fast, sometimes it slows down,” Moorthy said. As part of the investment, the company has set up a research and development unit in Hyderabad with the capacity to house 1,000 people. “We have 500 people in Hyderabad, which will double to 1,000,” Moorthy said. The company’s total employee base in India is around 2,500 spread across Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Microchip designs its chipsets and gets them produced from third-party semiconductor manufacturers. When asked about outsourcing manufacturing to companies that are in the process of setting up semiconductor plants in India, Moorthy said the company at present has no requirement and will look at collaborating with firms in India “when time is ripe”.