Colleges aim to boost microchip tech talent pool

In a move aimed at nurturing a skilled workforce for semiconductor testing and manufacturing, around 300 engineering colleges in India have introduced chip and circuitry engineering programmes with a particular emphasis on very large-scale integration (VLSI).

- Shouvik Das

According to Jaya Jagadish, country head and senior vicepresident Silicon Design Engineering for India, at US chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, the initiative aligns closely with the recommendations of the India Semiconductor Mission's Semiconductor Talent Building Committee (TBC).

"We (at TBC) looked at the demand and supply for each sub-field of the semiconductor industry for the next 10 years.

Semiconductor design is more mature than manufacturing, and may see 15% growth during this time. In semiconductor manufacturing, India has been attracting investments, leading to creation of the first roadmap.