The Indian VLSI (very-large-scale integration) industry requires anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 highly-trained engineers to increase the quality of work being churned out, according to Dasaradha R Gude, managing director of AMD India.
“At present, there are only 2,000-3,000 VLSI engineers, which need to be more than doubled or tripled, in India. We are in talks with various educational institutions, recommending them to start basic courses and groom industry-ready talent, so as to make India an economically-viable location for MNCs to come in and start operations here,” he said on Tuesday.
The Indian VLSI industry, which has about 40 players including global names like AMD, Xilinx, Nvidia and Microsemi, at present employs close to 3,000 people, with the attrition rate being 30-40 per cent.
The domestic semiconductor design industry, comprising VLSI design, embedded software development and hardware, during 2010 had a workforce of 160,000. The industry is estimated to grow from $7.5 billion in 2010 to $10.2 billion by 2012, primarily on the back of increased sales in the electronics and telecommunications sectors.
Addressing the media at a curtain-raiser meet on the 25th international conference on VLSI design, scheduled to be held herer from January 7-11, 2012, silver jubilee special chair JA Chowdary said the conference, which will have sessions on VLSI design and embedded systems, was expected to attract 5,000 participants.
“One of the key features of this conference is the ‘Student project contest’, in which over 1,000 students are expected to participate. Besides, the conference will offer 200 fellowships (Rs 20,000 each) to support faculty and researchers who are not in a position to arrange for their own funds to attend the conference,” he added.
