India is great place for chip design, says Intel
Intel on Tuesday, said that India is a great place for microprocessor design but remained non-committal on setting up a manufacturing base in the country.
“We have a chip design centre in Bangalore. Our server microprocessors are designed here... India is an important design centre and we hope to expand here over time... But we do not need any capacity addition. There are no current plans for any factory. But there are better prospects for software and chip design for India centre,” Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said.
His comments come nearly two years after the company bypassed India for setting up a semiconductor manufacturing unit. In 2007, former Intel chairman Craig Barrett had said that the decision to overlook India was on account of the government’s delay in announcing a policy for the sector.
Intel, which is betting big on WiMax broadband rollout in the country, also said India is not far behind others and the delay in conducting auction for WiMax spectrum would not cause any disruption. “I do not think the delay in spectrum auction would cause much disruption. WiMax deployment worldwide is taking place for the past 12 months and at the worst India would be six months behind. Auction is going to take place in January and the rates (Wimax auction reserve price) seems reasonable. It is a tipping point. I think it is just right in terms of time”, Otellini said.
