Micron Technology last week officially opened a key global development center in Hyderabad, India, and plans to recruit up to 2,000 people over the next couple of years. Speaking at the event, Micron president and chief executive officer Sanjay Mehrotra said Hyderabad offered the best combination of talent and environment for its development center to become one of the top three to four sites for Micron globally. It hopes the diversity of talent in India will help drive breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and emerging memory.

The company originally announced its plans to invest around $42 million to expand its Hyderabad base in September 2018, working with the state’s Telangana Academy for Skills and Knowledge to recruit young engineers. It first expanded its footprint in India in Bengaluru in April 2019 and now with its combined presence in both Bengaluru and in Hyderabad, it said India will complement the company’s global centers of excellence around the world, providing design and product engineering functions for next-generation memory and high-value storage solutions. Located in the heart of Hyderabad’s technology corridor and spanning 350,000 square feet, Micron said its new center includes six purpose-built design and verification labs.

Speaking at the opening of Micron’s new global development center in Hyderabad, from left to right: Dee Mooney, executive director, Micron Foundation; Micron Technology executives, Sanjay Mehrotra, president and chief executive officer, April Arnzen, senior vice president of human resources, and Jeff VerHeul, senior vice president, nonvolatile engineering. (Image: Micron Technology)

The high-profile opening last week was attended by the Government of Telangana minister for IT, industries and municipal administration and urban development, K.T. Rama Rao; the National Institute for Transforming India Aayog (the government’s think tank which includes a brief on technology policy and innovation) CEO Amitabh Kant; and chief secretary of the Government of Telangana, SK Joshi.

Sanjay Mehrotra said, “We’re delighted to launch our global development center in Hyderabad and expand our team of engineers, researchers, developers and IT specialists. Leveraging global talent, like our new Hyderabad team members, helps us drive innovation and stay at the forefront of emerging memory technologies.”

In its press statement, Micron said India provides the company with access to a highly educated and talented workforce, including engineers who can design and develop high-quality, cutting-edge memory and storage solutions. The company aims to fill a wide range of roles in Hyderabad, including those in engineering, science, research and information technology.

At the opening Micron also said it was giving a $100,000 grant to a local charity which focuses on increasing school attendance by addressing malnutrition. The national charity serves free mid-day meals to 1.76 million children; Micron’s donation will benefit 5,000 school children and their families for a year.

Microchip establishes new R&D center in Chennai

India clearly is growing in importance in terms of chip design, with a growing talent base in integrated circuit design and embedded design. As a sign of this increasing activity, earlier this year in July, Microchip Technology also established a new research and development center in Chennai, India, where it will accommodate up to 1,200 staff.

Microchip has had a presence in Chennai since 2012 and has been growing steadily since then. Its new center will focus on IC design, physical design, computer-aided design, application and software development. It will also catalyze the development of the local ecosystem for IC design and specialized embedded systems development.

With additional development centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad, Microchip said its commitment to India has grown over the years, with a six-fold increase in employees over the last 10 years to approximately 1,800 employees today. Its customer base in India has also grown to over 1,500 today. The company said with more than 18 business units and corporate functions already present in India, Microchip’s investments in the region make it a key player in the Indian semiconductor market.

Microchip's new R&D center at Chennai, India (Image: Microchip Technology)

Ganesh Moorthy, president and chief operating officer of Microchip Technology Inc., said, “The new Chennai development center underscores Microchip’s commitment to designing and developing differentiated embedded control solutions for our customers. Microchip’s continued investment in India provides opportunities for the country’s workforce of highly qualified engineers while allowing us to better serve our growing customer base in the region.”