India Branching Out into Chip Design

By Nitin Dahad, EETimes
September 13, 2019

This week, Indian analog and mixed-signal design services firm Sankalp Semiconductor was acquired in an all-cash deal by HCL Technologies, one of the country’s leading IT outsourcing firms, for just over US$25 million. The acquisition is part of the latter’s strategic plans to expand into newer market domains and offer a wider range of services to its customers in the analog and mixed signal space.

Sankalp Semiconductor CEO Samir Patel said, “The strategic acquisition will enable synergies between engineering teams allowing us to offer a broader semiconductor know-how to a wider variety of customers. The joined forces will enable deeper engagements with customers in the end-to-end digital and mixed signal design space.”

The deal points to a continued emergence of chip design firms in India moving beyond simply providing offshore design centers for the likes of Texas Instruments and Intel from the mid-1980s onwards, and later on for EDA firms like Cadence and Synopsys. For many global firms, India was a natural center for software engineering talent, and to apply huge numbers of people to turn the handle on large development projects.

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