There will be some big announcements on semiconductors soon: Ajai Chowdhry
HYDERABAD: One of the six founding members of Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL), Ajai Chowdhry, speaks with Deccan Chronicle in length about the future for Indian semiconductors, as he releases his book ‘Just Aspire – Notes on Technology, Entrepreneurship and Future’.
Asked about what made him pen down a book, Mr. Chowdhry says his 10-year-old grandson asking him what he does in life was the reason for him to write the book.
“My grandson asked me to tell him what I had done in life. Now that I was anyway going to tell him about what I had done, I thought I should tell everybody the same and that’s how the book came about,” he said.
On the title of the book, he said that since he strongly believes that aspirations matter the most for success, ‘Just Aspire’ was an obvious choice for a title.
Hinting about some important announcements being made as part of India Semiconductor Mission, Mr. Ajai Chowdhry said that the Indian government has all the right strategies in place and they are concentrating on four areas for creating the industry: First, to create design companies in the country, called “Fabless Companies.” Second, to identify places for setting up Fab companies to manufacture silicon semiconductors. Third, to work towards the creation of compound semiconductors, and the last for packaging.
Speaking about China’s dependence on the US and Japan to get equipment to make semiconductors, Mr. Ajai Chowdhry, said that China relies on them only for equipment and software.
As the USA banned the export of equipment and software required for manufacturing semiconductors, China is now stuck and finds it difficult to start semiconductor factories.
Stressing on the need to create a hardware talent pool in India, he said that the Centre has created a task force with him as one of the members, to understand the skills required for growth in the semiconductor field.
According to him the report given by the taskforce does not just look at India’s semiconductor needs, but looks into the needs of the global market.
“Since all the other countries are aging, now is a good time for India to grow in this field. If we can create that capability and skilled workforce in the next 4-5 years we could export a lot of manpower,” he added.
Recollecting how India was a software services nation 10 years ago and how the nation is building products for the global needs now, the author suggests that the country should seize the opportunity to become a product nation in the hardware sector also.
“If we design and make quality products in India and sell them to the world, we will have a much better positioning that China, as our neighbor has lost the trust of the world,” he said and added that the last chapter of his book ‘Just Aspire’ gives details on how India can achieve the target.
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