U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced its plans to invest approximately $400 million in India over the next five years. The company will establish its largest design center in Bengaluru, India’s tech hub. The announcement was made by AMD’s Chief Technology Officer, Mark Papermaster, during an annual semiconductor conference in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The conference also features speeches from industry leaders like Foxconn Chairman Young Liu and Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.
Despite entering the chip sector relatively late, the Indian government under Prime Minister Modi has actively sought investments to position the country as a chipmaking hub. In line with this strategy, AMD will open its new design center campus in Bengaluru by the end of this year and plans to create 3,000 new engineering roles within the next five years. The 500,000-square-foot campus will add to AMD’s existing presence in India, which currently spans over 10 locations and employs more than 6,500 people.
Mark Papermaster emphasized the crucial role played by the India teams in delivering high-performance and adaptive solutions that support AMD’s global customers. AMD’s chips are widely used in various devices, including personal computers and data centers. The company is also developing an artificial intelligence chip to compete with market leader Nvidia Corp.
Unlike Intel, AMD outsources chip production to third-party manufacturers like Taiwan’s TSMC. With TSMC and Samsung leading cutting-edge chipmaking technology, nations worldwide are striving to bolster their semiconductor capabilities to avoid supply chain disruptions experienced during the pandemic.
To support the growth of India’s chip sector, the country unveiled a $10 billion incentive program in 2021. While no company has yet obtained clearance to establish a fabrication plant, other investments have been made in the country’s chip industry. Applied Materials, a U.S. chip equipment maker, announced a multi-year $400 million plan to set up an engineering center, while Micron invested $825 million in a semiconductor testing and packaging unit in Gujarat.
With its substantial investment and establishment of a large design center, AMD is strengthening its position in the Indian market and contributing to India’s ambitions of becoming a significant player in the global semiconductor industry.
