AMD to invest $400 million in India over 5 years, to set up R&D facility

American semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Friday announced plans to invest $400 million in India over the next five years. The planned investment includes a new AMD campus in Bangalore that will serve as the company’s largest research and development (R&D) facility in the world, according to Mark Papermaster, EVP and CTO, AMD. 

He added that the new campus is expected to open before the end of 2023 and will add approximately 3,000 new engineering roles by the end of 2028.
 
Papermaster was speaking at the Semicon India 2023 conference on Friday at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, in an effort to attract investments for India's chip industry and establish the country as the semiconductor manufacturing hub. Many industry players like Foxconn, AMD, Micron, Lam Research and Cadence, among others have gathered at the conference.

He also said that AMD's presence in India has expanded significantly over the years, starting with just a few employees in 2001 and currently employing over 6,500 people. He attributed this growth to the solid groundwork laid by local leaders and the availability of highly skilled professionals in the country.

“AMD has one of the industry’s broadest product portfolios fuelled by growth in artificial intelligence, networking and 6G communications, and our India teams will continue to play a pivotal role in delivering the high-performance and adaptive solutions that support AMD customers worldwide,” added Papermaster.
 
Meanwhile, at the Semicon event, Anil Agarwal, Mumbai-headquartered industrial conglomerate Vedanta, said that his company has found a “world class” technology partner for its semiconductor unit in India and is in the process of tying up with them.
 
“We are 100% committed to produce semiconductors and display glass in India and have lined up partners for the same,” Agarwal Tweeted.
 
Read more: Identified new ‘world class’ partner for chip project: Vedanta chairman
 
His announcement comes weeks (10 July) after Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn said that it has withdrawn from the $19.5 billion joint venture (JV) with Vedanta for semiconductor production in India. The Vedanta-Foxconn JV, which was announced last September, was one of the major deals under the production-linked incentive scheme.
 
The Semicon event also comes at a time when India is looking to attract major semiconductor players to set up chip fabrication and assembling plants in the country. 

On his first official state visit to the US in June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met technology leaders and extended an invitation to global chip makers, to encourage semiconductor manufacturing in India with a $10 billion subsidy programme.
 
Thereafter, US chipmaker Micron Technology announced plans to invest up to $825 million in a new chip assembly and test facility in Gujarat, its first factory in the country that it said will create up to 5,000 new direct jobs in the region. 

Another US semiconductor firm Applied Materials announced its plans to invest $400 million over the next four years in a new engineering centre in India. Further, chipmaker Microchip Technology announced in July a $300 million investment plan to expand its operations in India.

According to a the “India Semiconductor Market Report, 2019-2026” published on 17 August 2022, by India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) and Counterpoint Research, the Indian semiconductor market was valued at $27.2 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR of nearly 19% to reach $64 billion in 2026.