Wireless communications firm Qualcomm Inc has opened its Chennai Design Centre entailing investments to the tune of ₹177.27 crore.
The centre was inaugurated in the presence of Cristiano Amon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated and Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology.
This centre is expected to generate jobs for up to 1,600 skilled technology professionals. The design centre will specialise in wireless connectivity solutions, with a focus on innovations that complement Wi-Fi technologies. Additionally, it will actively contribute to Qualcomm’s global Research and Development endeavours in 5G cellular technology. This investment will also open new doors for semiconductor design in alignment with the government’s vision of ‘Make in India’ and will unlock growth opportunities for a strong indigenous design ecosystem.
Post the inauguration, the Union Minister said all the three semiconductor chips in Qualcomm board will be now designed end-to-end in the newly-inaugurated Chennai Design Centre. This meets the Prime Minister’s vision of creating entire value chain of semi conductors in India, starting from design, fabrication and ATMP (assembling, testing, marking and packaging), and encompassing further, all three layers of semiconductor ecosystem, viz., talent pool, gases and chemicals and semiconductor equipment, he said.
“We have tied-up with 104 universities, spread across the nation, where latest design tools are made available to the students, to learn, experiment and try out new ideas”, the Minister noted.
Mr. Amon, who recently met with Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said: “I’m very bullish about a partnership (with Adani) discussion.”
6G University Research Programme in India
In addition, the company has also announced its programme supporting 6G university research in India, in line with the government’s Bharat 6G Vision, encouraging academia research and leadership in emerging 6G technologies. The programme supports a select group of professors from various IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and IISc (Indian Institute of Science), in their research in key areas of 6G technologies.
The first cohort, comprising 17 academicians, will share the programme funding of about $1.02 million over a period of three years. The programme is spread across two phases. Phase One, which recently concluded, invited research proposals from the shortlisted universities. Phase Two will be spread across three years and will entail regular engagement between professors, students, and their assigned points of contact, talks on 6G by R&D leads from Qualcomm group companies and periodic workshops for the participants.
