Indian multinational information technology services company HCL Technologies expects to double its semiconductor services business in 3-4 years, following capabilities that it will develop around electronic chip plants to be set by its conglomerate HCL Group, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported citing sources.
HCL Technologies executive vice president and BU head Ameer Saithu told PTI that semi-chip is one of HCL’s main focus sectors.
"There is an internal plan to do it in a period of three to four years. I say only three to four because it is ongoing and we see enough demand to do that,” he added.
Saithu said HCL Group's semiconductor wafer fab can be built in about 18-24 months' time once the government approves its application.
HCL Technologies will assist HCL Corporate in the end-to-end processing of chips. Stating that funds are ready for investment from HCL Corporate, he added that the company is interested in developing capabilities and sees them as a “very big” opportunity.
HCL Group is planning to set up a chip wafer fabrication unit for 65-nanometre nodes that are used in automobile, consumer durables and low-cost devices segments. The firm currently works with semiconductor players like Intel, NXP, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Applied Materials in electronic chip production.
The company has already applied for a government scheme to establish a trusted electronics value chain in the areas of application of fabrication and packaging technologies in 2022.
The firm has started building capabilities in Brazil, Vietnam, Israel, the Netherlands and Japan. It also continues to grow manpower in Bengaluru, the capital of the south Indian state of Karnataka.
"We are trying to increase the size of the pool (of workers) available, rather than the same people going from one place to another. We have also established a very large-scale training programme with multiple customers involved in different skill sets within this industry," Saithu said.
