NEW DELHI : Fabless chipmaker MediaTek, which supplies chips to some of the world’s top electronics firms, said it is open to considering using chips made in India once the country’s ecosystem develops. In an interview, Anku Jain, managing director, MediaTek India, said fabrication units planned for India will likely focus on mature nodes at first.
The technology node is vital in chip manufacturing. Smaller nodes lead to more efficient chips, which are used in the most advanced devices. More mature nodes like 28nm and above, however, are still used in many devices, including appliances, and smart home products.
Jain’s comments follow MediaTek chief executive Rick Tsai saying last November that chipmakers like MediaTek will need multiple sources in future. Tsai, who was speaking to Reuters at the time, however, mentioned Taiwan, US, Germany and Europe as the key producing markets.
MediaTek is one of the largest chip suppliers to smartphone makers. Counterpoint Research said the firm supplied 28% of all mobile chips in the December quarter, behind Apple, and ahead of US rival Qualcomm. Smartphone chips, especially the ones supplied by firms like MediaTek and Qualcomm, however, are usually made using 5nm and below nodes right now, which aren’t expected to be produced in India at the moment.
Jain said, however, MediaTek sees a “very high chance” of India emerging as a chip manufacturing hub. He added that chip availability has improved at the macro level.
“We see a lot of serious intent from the government and industry partners. The government has realized that semiconductor itself is a very strategic sector, and we cannot really rely on external parties and we should have at least some control over it. We are still in the early days. From a design point of view, India is doing very well in the last several years. I think 20-25% of the global talent actually is available in India from a chip design point of view. We have multiple patents from MediaTek India,” he said.
To be sure, the Indian government has offered a $10 billion production linked incentive (PLI) for chip firms looking to set up fabrication units in India. A joint venture between Taiwan’s Foxconn and Indian conglomerate Vedanta Group is said to be the front runner for receiving approvals at the moment. In February, the company hired chip veteran David Reed to lead its chip efforts in the country.
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