en.Wedoany.com Reported - Silicon Labs, a US-based semiconductor design company, is ramping up its investment in the Indian market, with a focus on R&D centers and the Internet of Things (IoT) growth sector. This fabless company, listed in the US, competes with Nordic Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, and Microchip Technology.
Daniel Cooley, Chief Technology Officer of Silicon Labs, stated in an interview with ETElectronicsWorld that the company has two main development directions in India. One is a large R&D and IT center in Hyderabad; the other is the belief that India is a market with huge IoT growth potential in smart infrastructure, smart meters, and consumer applications. Cooley noted that the company's investment in the sales market is on par with its R&D investment.
Silicon Labs established its Hyderabad office in 2020 through the acquisition of Redpine Signals, which had 160 employees at the time. Currently, the office employs over 600 to 700 full-time and contract employees. Cooley did not disclose the specific investment amount.
The central government of India is driving one of the world's largest infrastructure transformations through the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), aiming to replace over 250 million traditional meters with smart prepaid meters. According to an official statement from India's Ministry of Power in March, nearly 47 million smart meters have been installed nationwide. In May, Silicon Labs and local company Commminent jointly announced that they had delivered over 500,000 Wi-SUN standard-compliant communication modules for various smart grid projects in India.
Cooley stated that India and other regions are increasingly adopting the Wi-SUN Alliance Field Area Network (FAN) as the national standard for smart meter radio frequency (RF) networks. Wi-SUN operates in the sub-1GHz unlicensed band and is said to offer longer range and better propagation characteristics for outdoor IoT deployments compared to sub-6GHz cellular bands. Cooley believes that the trend of using standard-based technologies will continue, with technologies like Thread, ZigBee, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi adapting and building IoT needs better and faster than cellular technology. He added that there will always be cellular IoT projects, but they are smaller in scale compared to the overwhelming demand that continues to advance.
The company, headquartered in Austin, Texas, stated that India has a strong track record in multiple fields and chip applications, and is eager to collaborate with high-quality suppliers. Cooley mentioned seeing India's ambitions in areas such as wafer fabs and MOSFETs, believing the country has the conditions to develop a semiconductor industry enabler, and expressed willingness to consider collaborating with any high-quality supplier at a suitable cost.
Notably, Texas Instruments (TI) previously announced its intention to acquire Silicon Labs for $7.5 billion, aiming to create a product portfolio that integrates hybrid solutions, analog, and embedded processors. According to a statement released by TI, it is expected that within three years after the transaction closes, annual manufacturing and operational synergies of approximately $450 million will be generated.
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