SmartSoC Solutions, a Bengaluru-based semiconductor design company, aims to hire over 500 employees in FY25, adding to the 1,300-plus it currently has.

“The plan is to expand more into Tier II cities going forward, based on the market situations. We plan to hire over 500 plus employees, and this is the roadmap for us to expand globally and domestically in Tier II cities,” shared founder and CEO, Bharath Desareddy.

Founded in 2017, SmartSoC designs “cutting-edge” chips. In December 2024, the company opened a second office in both Bangalore and Hyderabad and has five offices in India, including in Hubli. While 80 per cent of its employees are in India, 20 per cent is spread across regions including the US, Europe, and South Korea.

While the US is a top market for SmartSoC, the CEO highlighted India’s potential with respect to chip design. The country, currently not known for chip production may take 2-3 years to produce chips internally because of several FAB-related initiatives.

“Due to the geopolitical situations and many sanctions on the Chinese market, India is looking forward to being self-reliant. Multiple FABs have received permission and are being worked on, but it will take us a few years to produce our own chips. We have been importing a lot of chips and I believe the foundries being started in India are good enough for us to be self-reliant,” he explained Desareddy.

Better margins

While the company sees better margins with larger customers like Google, Samsung, and AMD, it also works with start-ups for end-to-end work of a chip.

“We are a chip designer, so for fabrication, we always rely on other foundries. Mostly, the big customers decide whom to go with. For start-ups who want our support, we work with foundries and get it done for them,” added Desareddy.

He continued, “Foundries don’t speak to all customers or start-ups. We interface between the foundry and start-ups. The few foundries globally directly interact with big chains like Apple and Google, but start-ups or mid-sized companies should go through channel partners to get slots. We will be interfacing these activities because we know the technology and the design space end-to-end and can ensure chip makers are successful by getting them working silicon.”

SmartSoC recently also ventured into newer verticals like automotive and artificial intelligence (AI). There have been efforts to expand both hardware and software on the automotive side, the CEO said. Alongside, the company will also focus on custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), an emerging opportunity including in India.

In FY25, the company anticipates around $30 million in revenue, reflecting a growth of 40-45 per cent.

Published on January 24, 2025