AMD plans $400 million in India by 2028

AMD will invest $400 million in India over the next five years and open its largest design center in Bengaluru, joining the growing list of companies supporting India’s semiconductor manufacturing ambitions.

At SemiconIndia 2023 in Gujarat, India, AMD CTO Mark Papermaster announced the chipmaker’s investment plans.

“Our investment will build on over two decades of growth and successful presence here in India,” Papermaster said in his keynote.

AMD will open a design center in Bengaluru by the end of the year. AMD now has 10 offices in India, including Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, in this 500,000-square-foot facility.

“Through these investments, AMD will further expand our R&D capabilities in India to drive our semiconductor design innovation in support of the government’s India semiconductor mission and drive to make India a strong semiconductor talent and nation,” he added.

Since 2001, the Santa Clara-based company has had over 6,500 employees and 3,000 partners and contractors in the South Asian nation. By 2028, the chipmaker will hire 3,000 more engineers.

“We welcome the AMD plan to expand its leading-edge R&D engineering operations in India,” said Indian electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

The conference also features Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, and Applied Materials semiconductor products group president Prabu Raja.

India wants to be the next semiconductor hub. The Narendra Modi government offered a $10 billion incentive program in 2021 to lure chipmakers to India. In June, the government revised the scheme after global companies didn’t respond.

Applied Materials announced a $400 million engineering center in India in June. Last month, Micron announced plans to invest up to $825 million in a semiconductor plant in the country.

“I applaud AMD’s decision to establish its largest R&D design center in India and expand the India-AMD partnership. It will help create a world-class semiconductor design and innovation ecosystem. “It will also provide tremendous opportunities for our large pool of highly skilled semiconductor engineers and researchers and will catalyze PM Narendra Modi’s vision of India becoming a global talent hub,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT, skill development, and entrepreneurship.