VLSI industry is pegged at $1.25 bn: CMR

BANGALORE, INDIA: India VLSI design services industry is pegged at US$ 1.25 billion or 14  per cent of the overall India Semiconductor industry in 2011, with captive design centres accounting for close to 70 per cent of total revenues.

In terms of number of companies, the India VLSI design services industry comprises approximately 70 firms designing chips for various customers within the large volume segments of Consumer Electronics, Networking and Telecoms, besides niche areas like Healthcare.

These findings were revealed in the CyberMedia Research India VLSI Design Services Study 2012 (March 2012).

"Chip designing in general and VLSI in particular is not a new phenomenon for the India semiconductor industry," said Anirban Banerjee, associate vice president, research and advisory services, CyberMedia Research.

"Indian design engineers, whether serving in captive or third party design companies, have exhibited depth of experience and a range of skills by taping out some of the world's best chips that are used in several devices and gadgets we use in our daily lives," Anirban added.

The India third-party VLSI design services industry revenues were estimated at US$ 375 million in 2011.

Wipro Technologies led the industry with over 22 per cent share while SmartPlay Technologies and Sasken Communications comprised the other companies that made it to the top 3 in terms of revenues earned. Collectively the top 3 companies constituted 30.1 per cent of total India third party VLSI design services revenues for 2011.

On the technology front, Indian companies have designed chips on a 28 nm scale that have already been successfully taped out. In 2012, it is expected that 22 nm scale chips designed in India will also be taped out to hit markets across the world.

Further, it is expected that Indian companies will graduate to 3D chip designing in the forthcoming quarters. By 2013, CyberMedia Research expects the overall number of VLSI Design Services companies in India to surpass 100.