Absence of product design companies in India challenge for local semiconductor makers: ASIP founder

Bengaluru, Feb 26 (PTI) Consumer product companies like Apple, Samsung, LG, and Cisco influence the dynamics of the semiconductor industry, and the absence of original product design firms in India poses a challenge for indigenous chip manufacturers, a top official of ASIP said on Thursday.

Speaking at IESA Vision Summit 2026, ASIP (Advanced System in Package Technologies) Founder and CEO Venkata Simhadri shared his earlier experience when he reached out to smart electric meter manufacturers to get a chip of his past company MosChip, introduced in their product, but it could not happen as the finished product was designed overseas.

"We still don't have an ODM (original design maker). We still don't have a company like Samsung or LG that makes TVs or tablets. We still don't have a brand name in India that can control the chips that go to OSAT.

"All the capacity we're setting up, we are still dependent on multinationals. All the companies we're going around the world and say, please use my OSAT. We are dependent in the short term on the multinationals to fill up our capacity," Simhadri said.

He said that India has around 20 per cent of the chip design workforce at present, but most of them are employed by multinationals and a few design services companies.

Simhadri said that the India Semiconductor Mission has created a good momentum in the country and appreciated the Design Linked Incentive scheme, adding that the funds given by the government under the scheme is not enough to make next-generation chips.

He said that when he approached electric meter makers to replace chips made by Indian companies, the suppliers were unable to do so as they were not designing the product and just assembling the imported parts of the meter.

Simhadri said that he set up a company, Powerics, to provide a platform for chips of his companies.

He said that he got a reference design for Powerics GaN (Gallium Nitride) charger from overseas, but made the entire product in India.

"We should focus more on developing product companies and fabless chip companies," Simhadri said.

Global chip majors like Nvidia, Qualcomm, Mediatek are fabless companies, which means they only design their chips, and the product manufacturing is outsourced to fabrication companies, then to ATMP or OSAT units for making chips ready for use. PTI PRS HVA