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HYDERABAD, Dec. 18

MENTOR Graphics Corporation, a $600-million technology company in electronics design automation (EDA) segment, has announced plans to invest about $50 million over the next three years in its Indian operations.

Dr Walden C. Rhines, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mentor Graphics, said that the Hyderabad-based wholly-owned subsidiary of Mentor Graphics will be developed into a strategic R&D centre for its global operations along with the Noida facility.

The Noida facility is part of the $100-million acquisition of Ikos concluded earlier this year. The US Corporation, which had acquired Ikos, has carved out a niche in electronic design automation space both in the US and European markets. Despite the slowdown and the semiconductor business being impacted over the last year or so, we continue to be focussed on this space, Dr Rhines told newspersons.

"Mentor believes in spending more on research and development because we are focussed on internal growth, which necessitates new product development and innovation. We have identified Hyderabad as a strategic technology centre for Mentor's future products and operations,'' Dr Rhines said.

Within the EDA tool development, the centre will now expand R&D design tools for printed circuit boards, co-verification, design-for test, intellectual property cores and embedded systems. We are rapidly expanding the Indian operations with a focus on new products. The company invests about 23 per cent of its overall revenues in R &D, Dr. Srinivas Mandavilli, Managing Director of Mentor Graphics India, said.

Currently, the company employees about 100 professionals in Hyderabad and 75 in Noida. The number is set to double in both these centres and expansion plans include plans for a new campus in the Hitec City, Dr Mandavilli said.

"The reason we are in India is to leverage critical skills particularly in the backdrop of general economic slowdown. Though most of the players in this industry space have found the going tough this year we have a 16 per cent market share in this space. We recorded a flat trend this fiscal which itself is good considering the impact on the semiconductor industry and have announced this investment plan considering the long-term objectives,'' Dr Rhines said.

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