Global semiconductor giants are playing matchmakers these days, helping small Indian companies bag multi-million-dollar contracts from international clients.

Semiconductor companies such as Analog Devices (ADI) and Texas Instruments have helped more than a dozen small Indian companies over the last year, while ARM and Sandisk are in talks to facilitate big international contract wins by Indian partners.

"Small companies, especially original equipment manufacturers ( OEMs), may not have the capability to design products and to connect with global clients. Over the last six months alone, ADI has helped 3-4 companies connect with design houses and customise solutions for global clients," said Somshubhro Pal Choudhury, managing director of Analog Devices India, which claims to have about 1,000 Indian customers and addresses the global analog market worth $45-50 billion.

"Companies designing solutions on chips need to make the right choice of silicon package. Once the choice is made, it becomes difficult to change as it takes six months to a year to develop these chips. Hence, a price differential or extra features do not matter," said Sanjeev Keskar, chairman of Indian companies, Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association.

ADI, in its most recent engagement, was to help Mindteck win a project to connect over a million mirrors in the Nevada desert to tap solar energy to drive a power generating turbine. Mindteck's revenue was $1 million dollars from the project.

"Each of these mirrors has sensors which need to communicate wirelessly to tower stations at frequent intervals. We developed a solution based on an ADI product for this," explains Surjit Lahiri, vice-president (product engineering), Mindteck. "They helped us with the reference designs, training the personnel and for demonstrating its usage."

Similarly, Mindteck also won a $1-million project from a large industrial MNC in India to develop a smart meter that can wirelessly transmit data, again on the base platform offered by ADI.

Very often, these small companies get early access to products and solutions developed by the multinational majors, even before they have hit the market, giving them the first-mover advantage.

Texas Instruments, one of the earliest semiconductor companies to set up a centre in India, collaborated with Bangalore-based Ittiam to develop broadcast design and video communication solutions that led to Ittiam bagging contracts including one from a Japanese customer in the automotive infotainment space.

In a recent engagement, TI has helped Indian company AllGo develop a small tablet that can be used as an interface for medical customers. For instance, a dental chair can be maneuvered into the right posture using this tablet, which is wirelessly connected.

"It is a win-win situation for both the MNC player and Indian companies, as they use the processors we develop and the analog parts we create to weave in their designs," said Arun Jain, director (sales and marketing), Texas Instruments India.

Similarly, a TI chip was used by eInfochip, an Indian company from Ahmedabad with over 1,000 employees, to develop video security cameras. "In 2013, they were able to deliver a complete video security solution to an overseas client," said Jain.

While TI declined to divulge the size of the contracts, independent sources said that they could be worth over a million dollars and many of these contracts are multi-year ones.

Cambridge, UK-based ARM, whose processors are found in over 95% of smartphones used today, and flash storage maker Sandisk are also in talks with smaller Indian companies to develop solutions that use their semiconductor products.

By: DocMemory
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