Looking at India for development of advanced tech, including AI applications: FUJIFILM SonoSite

New Delhi: American point-of-care ultrasound maker FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc is looking at India for development of advanced technologies, including AI applications, to provide solutions to the most complex challenges its customers face globally, its Global CEO Richard Fabian said on Tuesday.

The Bothell (Seattle)-headquartered company, which opened its new software centre of excellence (CoE) at Noida on Tuesday, is also investigating the possibility of manufacturing its value products in India to serve global markets as part of its expansion programme in the country, Fabian told PTI in an interview.

"We have the headquarters in Bothell that has a software team, but where the expansion is and where the growth is, is right here in Noida, India, with this incredible team," Fabian said.

He further said, "As we take a look at how do we develop and deliver not only great workflow solutions, but great advanced applications, AI applications, this will be the team that is going to be working on a lot of the most complex challenges that our customers have." India's talent pool of English speaking software engineers and leaders, along with access to "brilliant physicians that are able to provide input" and its healthcare system make it an ideal place for putting its future development plans in the country, he added.

"What we've discovered is, as our products transform and our users transform, we needed to transform too and and if you take a look at the capabilities that exist in India, great healthcare...It's an English speaking country that has incredible resources with software engineering, and we needed to ramp up quickly and with the best competencies ever," he said.

When asked about hiring plans for the Noida CoE, Fabian said,"We have about 40 new employees here at the centre of excellence, and when you start to say, what's the number down the road in a year or two, the honest answer is we don't know...we are going to continue to grow this, and we're going to continue to expand and invest in the centre of excellence." When asked if the company, which currently imports its devices from the US, is also looking at manufacturing its value products in India, "It absolutely has the potential to do that. We are investigating that right now."

Explaining, Fabian said, "As we continue to invest and we are committed to not only growing the Centre of Excellence here in Noida, but also we're committed to the Indian market, where we think we can continue to expand our business that's done extremely well over the years."

He further said, "I think that the 'Make in India' will not only help us address the market in India, but it also has the potential to help us beyond India, especially in various emerging markets on a global health basis, and where some of the that our portfolio might fit extremely well into into a strategy of manufacturing in in India."

For premium products that are sold in the US, it does "not make sense for us to even look at manufacturing those outside of where we currently do, because we have things set up (there)", he said when asked about US President Donald Trump's tariff threats on imports from India.

"But as we expand our portfolio into value segments that are sold primarily outside of the US, I think it could make a lot of sense to expand that manufacturing in a market like India," he noted.

When asked about the company's hiring plans for the Noida centre of excellence, Fabian said, "We're actually investigating just that now, because as we want to expand, we also understand there's extra capacity in the building beyond what we currently have here." A part of the visit of the company's global leadership in India this week is also to look at what is the potential of expansion besides meeting the team here, he added.

FUJIFILM Sonosite Inc Global Vice President for R&D Richard Kelly said, "Our Noida CoE team will work closely with the R&D hub in Seattle, USA, to optimise system performance and software capabilities. By integrating advanced technologies and features into our ultrasound systems in partnership with clinicians, we envision a future of transformative medical innovation."