The Hindu Business Line : Chip demand gaining critical mass: AMD

Semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has said that multi-core processors, which have superior processing capabilities, are poised to make rapid inroads.

India, which is emerging as a major business opportunity, has reached a point where the Government and the industry need to take advantage of local manufacturing capability. The sheer demand makes business sense to have local manufacturing.

The President of AMD India, Mr Ajay Marathe, told Business Line the Indian market is reaching a tipping point where it would not be a worthwhile business proposition to keep importing components. The scale of business makes local manufacturing a logical choice.

After dual-core, quad-core seems to be big tussle area between AMD and Intel?

It is a very exciting technology. Multi-core, which includes several computer cores, or processing engines, on one piece of silicon, improves performance by sharing workloads.

In 2007, AMD will introduce a true quad-core design with four cores on the die. It's innovative architecture, in which the processor connects directly to memory, increases the efficiency of the processor. With quad-core, current workloads will be easier to handle.

The market for multi-core microprocessors is set to explode, though in India it is still in its infancy. Their usage rises in products including PCs, servers and video-game consoles, according to new research from iSuppli Corp.'s Emerging Technologies service.

Shipments of multi-core microprocessors will grow to 638 million units in 2015, up from 14.8 million in 2005, according to a long-range forecast developed by iSuppli. Market revenue will expand to $64.8 billion, up from $2.6 billion in 2005.

What are AMD's plans for India?

India is among the five high growth markets for AMD. To address the growing customer requirements we have strengthened our presence of channel and OEM partners.

Do you see the prospect of a Fab making a difference to AMD India plans?

Indian market is growing at a fast pace and is reaching a tipping point where it would not be a worthwhile business proposition to keep importing components. Local manufacturing will be a logical choice.

What about trends and market opportunity?

India has become a market for consumer goods, especially electronic PCs, laptops, washing machines, cameras etc.

The consumption of semi-conductor components in the products by 2015 will be approximately $10 billion. The sheer volume and value of processors creates large load on import. The Government and the industry need to take advantage of local manufacturing capabilities.