Date: 12th July 2010
  
 

TI; a company with advantage to serve the Indian semiconductor market

Texas Instruments (TI) had invited semiconductor related tech media peers in India for full day media session. Bobby Mitra, President and MD of TI India called this as inside the kitchen experience of TI. TI is the first company to show the world that investing in a development office in India is far more rewarding than elsewhere. Now though many companies know the potential of India's design resources as well as domestic market, TI has some local advantages over competitors. TI understands the pulse of Indian industry better than others. It's clearly early bird advantage and also the result of dedicated, overall and indepth focus. TI has some dedicated people like Bobby Mitra and Arun Jain who know the Indian semiconductor and electronics market in and out. And another strength is TI is appreciated for its work culture better than other companies. It is a reward basically for smart investment risk TI has taken in India long time back.

The hidden opportunities in Indian semiconductor market is no more a secret (it used to be). For Texas Instruments its repeat of its success in outsourcing design from India which it started 25 years ago.

Bobby stresses Telecom and Industrial as the top areas for TI in Indian market. That's where the more juice is. In telcom, it's not just handsets, it's more of telecom infrastructure. With the 3G auctioning over, next 18 months will see huge growth in telecom infrastructure. Bobby see huge(he repeatedly says 'huge' 'huge') opportunity for India in this space. He believes irrespective of the standards (CDMA WiMAX, LTE) TI's analog and high performance DSPs will enjoy very good growth in this. TI also expects to play significant role in power infrastructure and security infrastructure of wireless towers. Solar find a unique opportunity in powering remote towers in tough terrains, solar needs lot of semiconductors such as DC/DC converters, digital power controllers. Except the discrete power semiconductor devices, TI has quite a mix of products for solar power electronics.

Industrial electronics in India is big and diverse. There is lots of SMEs (2K +) spread allover India (metros to small towns). Bobby sees another huge opportunity for its analog power semiconductor and microcontroller product portfolio. Here along with the traditional applications, the emerging applications such as solar and LED lighting gain importance.

Arun Jain, a veteran who knows the Indian electronics market from the pre-liberalization times, leads TI's India sales team. They have 14 offices in 12 locations pan India. No other semiconductor vendor has this level of support in India. This is intended to work intimately with OEMs all over India to provide better application support and sales support. He is as vocal as Bobby about the opportunities in Indian electronic industry.

Bobby says great opportunity is unfolding and TI is ready to grab it in multiple segments specifically analog and MCU. TI targets complete OEM and manufacturer landscape of India, which includes MNCs, design houses, and EMS companies.

TI, with a legacy of leveraging Indian resources is now trying to be younger to serve the young market; India. On the fun-side, Bobby had shaved his moustache to look young.