IBM rules out setting up fab unit in India

Ruling out setting up of any fab facility in India, IBM has said that it would be keen to providing the technology know-how to any of the units coming up in the country.

“We will be ready for technology transfer whenever they (fab units) are ready as we are keen on contributing towards the growing ecosystem of the Indian semiconductor industry,” said, Adalio Sanchez, GM of global engineering solutions, STG, IBM.

IBM has been associated with the semiconductor industry for around 30 years and its activity includes manufacturing, design and R&D. The multi-billion dollar IT giant had also recently set up the Semiconductor Research and Development Enablement Centre (SRDC) in Bangalore, which is its sixth globally and the first outside the US and Europe. Mr Sanchez said it would be keen on the transfer of process technology to proposed fab units in India and not any chip design activity.

IBM has also announced a grand alliance with four other major players in the semiconductor industry to work on the latest 32nm bulk CMOS process technology. The other partners include Chartered, Samsung, Infineon and Freescale.

According to IBM, the five companies intend to work together to come out with technology for chips which is high on performance while using lesser power. It is also looking at a common manufacturing platform strategy, whereby the technology can be more easily transferred between partners.

Mr Sanchez said that the Bangalore centre will also be playing very key role in latest development. As the centre is less than a year old, it is still on the growth phase it has been engaged in the testing and validation services. The chips developed by IBM and its partners have found its application largely in servers and storage products. However, it has also used in video games, medical electronics, telecom, defence among others