Sorry, you are a bit too late, says SemIndia

CHIPS ARE DOWN
Sorry, you are a bit too late, says SemIndia
Karnataka Learns A Lesson
The Times of India

Bangalore: Karnataka government’s decision to better Andhra Pradesh’s offer for the $3-billion chip-manufacturing plant comes a bit too late. SemIndia Inc., the consortium of NRIs which wanted to set up an ecosystem for chip manufacturing in India, is in no mood to reverse its decision. “We’ve made our decision,’’ Vinod Agarwal, president and CEO, SemIndia Inc., told The Times of India.

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were the chief contenders for the Fab City where the first-ever assembly test mark pack (ATMP) plant would be located.

On Thursday, when Union IT minister Dayanidhi Maran announced that the SemIndia investors had decided on Hyderabad to locate the Fab City project, it set in motion a convoluted chain of events in the political corridors. The very next day, Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy said he would make all efforts to convince the Fab City people to come to Karnataka.

Chances are bleak that this decision can be reversed at this point of time. This is a decision which has been made taking into account several factors, including location. Moreover, this decision has been made by several investors in this project and it is not a one-man decision which can be reversed arbitrarily, say sources close to SemIndia.

But all is not lost for Karnataka. “In future, if manufacturing gets concentrated in Hyderabad, Karnataka should aim for something higher. We should look at attracting high technology companies and create a hub of high tech excellence here. Remember high technology work is one step higher than mere manufacturing,’’ says Rajendra Khare, country manager, BroadCom India, an Indian subsidiary of a global semiconductor company.

But for this kind of a high R&D content work too, the state’s infrastructure has to improve and the government’s pro-active stand too has to come out strongly. “Manufacturing can be easily shifted but knowledge and R&D talent cannot be. Bangalore has great brain power and if we are looking at creating a world class R&D hub, speed and response time for projects is crucial. Tremendous government support is needed to make quick decisions for high-end projects coming here; we should send out signals,’’ points out Janakiraman, president and CEO, R&D services, Mindtree, Bangalore-based IT services firm.