The New Silicon Hub: Hyderabad's Role in India's Chip and 5G Breakthrough

Hyderabad was well-known in the late 1990s for its call centres, business process outsourcing, and its fledgling HITEC City, which was an investment on India's outsourcing boom.

- 

However, a remarkable event has occurred during the past 20 years. Hyderabad has rebranded itself as the driving force behind India's next digital revolution, not just as a software city.

Hyderabad's transformation over the past 20 years is a prime example of creative urban and economic planning. Once largely known as a centre for business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services, this area is now known as the birthplace of India's semiconductor and 5G revolution.

Hyderabad's modern economy is mainly dependent on semiconductors and 5G, which are no longer just trendy terms. Hyderabad is becoming a major player in advanced manufacturing, defence technology, and telecommunications, from garage startups creating proprietary chips to multinational corporations constructing 5G innovation labs. With more than 150 semiconductor companies now based in the city, it brought in $3.5 billion in tech investments in 2023 alone. Hyderabad is striving for global tech leadership rather than catching up, thanks to its strong talent, infrastructure, and government support.

The Tech Pulse of Telangana: What Makes Hyderabad Different

Hyderabad's rise in India's tech scene is distinct since it is motivated by a design-first mentality as opposed to the more popular IT-services-first Approach found in places like Bangalore and Pune. Hyderabad focuses on the tangible and difficult hardware ecosystem, particularly semiconductor design, embedded systems, and telecom hardware, whereas many Indian metropolises have grown successfully on software development, SaaS platforms, or IT-enabled services.