AMD to invest $400 million in India, will set up largest design centre in Bengaluru

US chipmaker AMD, on Friday, announced its plan to invest approximately $400 million in India over the next five years which will include building a new campus in Bengaluru with an addition of around 3,000 engineering roles. The campus, which will be the company's biggest design centre, is expected to open before the end of 2023.

AMD said its investment is supported by the various policy initiatives of the Government of India focused on the semiconductor industry.

The new 5-lakh square-foot campus at Bengaluru will increase the company's footprint to 10 total locations across New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

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AMD Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster made this announcement at the Semicon India 2023, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gandhinagar on Friday morning.

"From a handful of employees in 2001 to more than 6,500 employees today, AMD has grown its India footprint based on the strong foundation established by our local leadership and the highly skilled talent pool,” Papermaster said.

“It will certainly play an important role in building a world class semiconductor design and innovation ecosystem,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said.

“The world is moving to a China plus One strategy and looking for diversification in supply chains. At the same time, the closure of China and its isolation is increasing the comparative long-term attractiveness of India as a consumer destination,” explained Utkarsh Sinha, managing director of boutique advisory firm Bexley Advisors.

This comes days after Foxconn-Vedanta's joint venture split. After pulling the plug on their $19.5 billion semiconductor JV, Foxconn and Vedanta have now applied for India chipmaking incentives, separately.

Meanwhile, US-based Micron Technology on Friday, reaffirmed its commitment to establish India's first semiconductor plant in Gujarat worth $825 million, creating 5,000 direct jobs and addressing demand from domestic and international markets.

Additionally, US-headquartered semiconductor component, engineering and services firm Lam Research signed an agreement with Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for the creation of a customised course offering for upskilling and training talent on semiconductor manufacturing technologies.

"We are seeing traction around all contours, which augurs well for the industry. India is definitely now a serious contender in the whole value chain of the electronics and semiconductor industry," said Devroop Dhar, co-founder and managing director of consultancy firm Primus Partners. "This move will give confidence to other players to ramp up their presence in India and we will see more traction across the whole spectrum," he added.

India will have at least five fabrication units (fabs) over the next 5-7 years, attracting multi-billion dollars in investments, Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw underscored, at the event in Ahmedabad.