High-End Board Design Seen Growing In India

BANGALORE, India — The failure of many Indian pc-board makers has deterred new entrants, according to the India Semiconductor Association (ISA), but the establishment of several new board design centers and the prospect of new government incentives for volume manufacturing could spur an Indian board industry.

Pressure on OEMs to develop new products or variants of current ones have prompted many to outsource hardware and system design work to Indian companies. "OEMs have set up design centers in India and are outsourcing work to companies here such as Wipro and HCL Technologies," ISA said. "The entry of electronic manufacturing services companies into [India] and growth of local companies is also spurring the growth of hardware design."

Manufacturers like Flextronics and Elcoteq are seeking complete solutions for VLSI, board and hardware design along with embedded software development are acquiring Indian companies. Flextronics acquired five Indian companies in a one-year period.

"Hardware [and] board design has matured in India . . . but there are very few companies that are competent in very high-frequency designs," ISA said. India "has very good capability in board layout and assembly, but in terms of fabrication of the board, it lacks capability."

By the end of 2007, ISA said it expects high-end board manufacturing will begin in India.