By Sai Ishwarbharath B
BENGALURU (Reuters) -U.S. chipmaker Marvell Technology plans to boost hiring and research spending in India to tap surging global demand for AI infrastructure, its India head told Reuters.
The company aims to grow its 1,700-strong workforce in India by 15% annually over the next three years, Navin Bishnoi said in an interview on Wednesday, but refrained from giving details of the expanded research and development budget.
Bengaluru serves as Marvell's India headquarters, while
its Hyderabad centre focuses on security solutions for data centers. It has a team specialising in embedded development for networking and storage in Pune.
India contributes a small portion of Marvell's revenue, but Bishnoi expects that to grow as local data center capacity expands and data protection laws tighten.
"India is now probably the third largest in data center footprint," Bishnoi said, adding that Marvell is in talks with hyperscalers, or large-scale cloud services providers, and local companies to expand its client base.
As a fabless company that designs advanced chips for AI and cloud infrastructure, Marvell does not manufacture chips but it is in discussions with local assembly and testing firms to align with their manufacturing plans.
These companies, known as outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, handle chip packaging and testing after fabrication.
While India is unlikely to become one of Marvell's top revenue markets in the next five years, he sees long-term potential.
"Ten years down the line, yes," Bishnoi said.
Marvell's expansion aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to make semiconductor manufacturing central to India's economic strategy, reducing import dependence and elevating its role in global electronics.
India does not have a large-scale chip fabrication plant yet, but several projects and OSAT facilities are underway under a $10 billion government incentive programme.
(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
