ARM to scale up India operations

UK-based ARM Embedded Technologies, a leading supplier of intellectual patents (IPs) to the semiconductor industry, is set to ramp up operations in the country, especially at its Bangalore design centre and develop a broad partner network to focus on the automotive, consumer and wireless segments.

The ARM technology is used by various firms as building blocks for microprocessors, peripherals and systeams on chip (SOC) in the electronic products developed by them. For instance, Samsung Electronics has adopted ARM technology for the commercially available Blu-Ray disc player.

ARM has about 165 partners globally to whom it supplies IPs and the usage is found in diverse sectors. ARM opened its Bangalore design centre in 2005 following a global acquisition.

In the last one year, the headcount has gone up to 240 from 120. The firm intends to hire another 100 engineers over the next 12 months with critical IP design work being shifted to India.

"At present, we have space for 350 professionals on our campus. We will move to a new campus next year since we intend to scale up operations significantly. Of all the ARM offices worldwide, the Bangalore design centre is the fastest growing. It has become a critical component of the company's global operations," ARM India president (commercial operations) Atul Arora told Business Standard.

The Bangalore centre is one of the 12 such centres of ARM globally. Arora is of the opinion that adequate safeguards in protection of patent in India has provided a very conducive atmosphere for the firm to expand its activities in the country.

ARM has also third party design service alliances with Wipro, Sasken, MindTree Consulting, IBM India and HCL Technologies through the Approved Design Centre (ADC) programme in India. "We intend to expand this programme by bringing in more companies. Next month, another company will join the ADC programme," he added.