Samsung Semiconductor India announces new R&D facility in Bengaluru, to hire 700 techies

Samsung Semiconductor India Research (SSIR) announced the opening of its new research and development (R&D) facility in the country on Thursday.

This is SSIR's second office in Bengaluru, with a capacity to accommodate close to 1,600 professionals. The facility is located at Bagmane Capital Tech Park in the Angkor-West area, spanning 160,000 square feet across four floors, as said by the company.

"The new facility embodies our commitment to expanding our footprint in India," said Balajee Sowrirajan, EVP and MD at SSIR.

Currently, SSIR has a workforce of over 4,500 employees and plans to add over 700 people, including fresh graduates and lateral hires across teams in the country.

The company has recently partnered with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to establish a Quantum Technology Lab. This lab will integrate cryogenic control chips with qubits, single photon sources, and detectors to address reliability challenges in quantum technologies. It will serve as a centre for technological innovation, manpower training, and collaboration with national and international quantum research institutions.

Last week, SSIR launched its ‘Samsung Innovation Campus’ program at the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) to upskill youth in future tech domains like Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) to make them job-ready. Under this program, SSIR will train and empower 1,100 undergraduate engineering students across the state of Karnataka.

In July last year, American semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced plans to invest $400 million in India over the next five years. This investment includes a new AMD campus in Bengaluru, which will be the company’s largest design centre. Additionally, about 3,000 new engineering roles will be added by the end of 2028. The AMD new campus is expected to open before the end of 2023.

Last week, both HCL Technologies and Wipro announced expanded partnerships with Intel Foundry. HCLTech is expanding its collaboration with Intel Foundry to co-develop customised silicon solutions for semiconductor manufacturers, system Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and cloud services providers to enhance foundry services.

Wipro which announced a partnership with Intel Foundry to boost chip design innovation said that it will work closely with Intel Foundry to accelerate the development of Intel’s advanced process nodes, including the Intel18A process node.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet is reportedly likely to approve incentives on Thursday for Israeli Semiconductor Company Tower’s proposal for a chip fabrication unit. This will pave the way for India’s first pure-play chip foundry. The project is estimated at $9-10 billion, with 50% subsidized by the Centre under the Indian Semiconductor Mission (ISM). States will provide an additional 15-25% subsidy.

A report by Deloitte shows that the overall semiconductor market in India is projected to reach $55 billion by 2026, with a 20% CAGR during 2022-2026.