HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government’s bid to push a 92-km stretch between Sri City economic zone in

district and Tirupati as a ‘Silicon Corridor’ for the manufacturing sector is gaining traction with scores of small electronics production facilities, according to a senior government official.

Talking to ToI, J.A.

, special chief secretary and advisor (information technology) to the AP chief minister, said that while Sri City has emerged as the home to several large manufacturing units, including automobile units like

, the ‘Silicon Corridor’ was finding traction among electronic component manufacturers.

“Electronic component manufacturers prefer to locate their units close to their markets, because they can make a profit only through lower transportation costs. This is on account of the fact that electronic devices and components have become commoditized, and the main route to profit for such manufacturers is by cutting costs elsewhere like in the cost of logistics,” Chowdary said.

While Chowdary declined to give the specific number of units currently having or proposing to set up manufacturing units in the ‘Silicon Corridor’, he said that most of the such units would be providing entry-level jobs to local residents. “Companies in the Silicon Corridor have a ready pool of potential workers who can be trained in the assembly of electronic components,” he said.

According to Chowdary, ‘Silicon Corridor’ was in the process on creating an ecosystem for the manufacture of electronic components and devices like mobile phones. “Mobile phone assembly companies have set up their plants to assembly such phones in Tirupati. The assembly units employ locals who are trained in-house. This helps in providing employment to high school graduates,” he said.

Apart from electronic component manufacturers, several producers of specialty plastics were also in the process of setting up their production facilities in ‘Silicon Corridor’, he said.

Tirupati has emerged as a key manufacturing hub in southern India with business groups like

setting up world class production units in and around the town at the foot of the temple town of Tirumala.

Amara Raja Batteries Ltd — in partnership with Johnson Controls, Inc., with which it has a 20-year association — commissioned a two-wheeler battery manufacturing unit at the

in neighbouring Chittoor district, in December last year. The first phase of the unit has an installed capacity of 5 million units per annum. ARBL will be eventually investing Rs 700 crore in a second unit, which will increase the unit’s capacity to 17 million units. The two-wheeler battery unit of ARBL, the flagship of the Amara Raja group, will be employing 1,300 at full capacity.

Besides manufacturing units, the software sector too appears to be finding value in setting up development centres in Tirupati. In January this year, Zoho, a software products company, set up a development centre in Renigunta near Tirupati, which aims to employ 150 software specialists, all recruited from Tirupati.