Amid global chip shortage, the US-headquartered industry major Qualcomm is doubling down on its Indian operations and investments. The San Diego-based tech giant is investing Rs 3,904.55 crore to expand its operations in Hyderabad, where the company's second largest campus outside the US is coming up. The facility will be inaugurated in October this year.
Qualcomm's investment, meant for the next five years, is also expected to create employment for about 8,700 software professionals, according to Telangana's Industries and IT Minister K T Rama Rao, who is currently in the US to promote his State as an industrial destination for tech biggies.
According to his office here, Rama Rao had meetings with Qualcomm top brass including CFO Akash Palkhiwala, vice-presidents James Jean, Laxmi Rayapudi, Parag Agashe and senior Director Dev Singh at the company headquarters in San Diego.
Aside from investments from the company, the meetings also discussed the possibility of partnership between Qualcomm and Telangana government in many areas, including agriculture, smart cities, digital education and connected devices.
To generate IT exports worth Rs 28,658 crore
Qualcomm's investment plans are not exactly new, in the sense it has already been announced and the constructions works are already on. Its large facility in Hyderabad, spread over nearly 1.6 million sq ft at the SEZ (Special Economic Zone), will be a 17-storey building.
The local state government had earlier announced that mega SEZ facility will likely generate IT services exports to the tune of Rs 28,658 crore over the next five years.
The deal between the company and the State government was first announced in October 2018. Its campus plan initially ran into trouble due to some land dispute. Aside from the new facility, which Qualcomm will operate on a lease basis, the company has a couple of other offices in Hyderabad. Now those will also be consolidated in the new sprawling building.
Qualcomm is, in general, gung-ho of its India operations. Just the other day it announced the winners of 'Qualcomm Design in India Challenge', India’s longest-running hardware startup incubation program.
