The Hindu Business Line : Maran to pitch for Intel's chip unit

IN a bid to persuade chip giant Intel to set up an Advance Test Manufacturing facility in India, the Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, would meet the Intel Chairman, Mr Craig Barrett, during his visit to the US beginning tomorrow.

The visit, aimed at promoting and projecting India as a strategic hub for manufacturing, marketing, research and development (R&D) and services, would see Mr Maran pitching for major international investments in the hardware manufacturing sector with a special emphasis on creating additional jobs. The Minister would meet Mr Barrett and hand over a letter from the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, regarding setting up of Intel's facility in India and impress upon Intel as to the benefits that would accrue to the company in the event of their setting up an Advance Test Manufacturing facility in India, an official release said here.

Mr Maran had announced last month that the Government would impress upon the US-based chipmaker to set up a manufacturing unit in India. He had said that the global giant had shortlisted China and India for setting up a factory. At present, Intel does not make hardware in India, but has a software development centre in Bangalore where most of Intel's 1,500 employees in India are located.

In China, Intel has a network of research and product development centres including the Intel China Software Lab in Shanghai and Intel Wireless Technology Development Center in Shenzhen.

The aggressive positioning by India as a manufacturing destination follows Dr Barrett's visit to New Delhi in November 2004, when he said that the company was evaluating the country as a possible location for manufacturing. In the same breath the Intel Chief had pointed out that while many countries had expressed interest in hosting an Intel manufacturing unit, they all needed to recognise the intense competition on parameters such as transportation, customs, utilities, government rules and regulations, that drove such investment decisions.

During his forthcoming visit to the US, Mr Maran is also scheduled to interact with Mr Hong Liang Lu, Chairman, UT Starcom; Mr John Chambers, CEO, Cisco; Mr Hector Ruiz, CEO & Chairman of the Board of AMD; Mr Craig London, Executive Vice-President of Solectron; and Mr Kenneth L. Scroeder, CEO, KLA-Tencor, amongst others.

He is also slated to meet Dr Vincent G. Cerf, Chairman, Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, to discuss and promote efficiency in routing Internet traffic within the country as a sequel to the launch of .IN domain.

He would also hold discussions with IBM and Applied Materials (world's largest Semiconductor fab equipment company) to explore the possibility of setting up of a 90nm fab in India. His itinerary also includes a meeting with Flextronics, which has made significant investments in offshore development in India and an interactive session with leading venture capitalists in the US.

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