L&T to foray into fabless semiconductor chip design, to invest ₹830 crore to set up unit
Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is foraying into fabless semiconductor chip design by setting up a subsidiary, the engineering major said on Tuesday.
The company has approved an investment of Rs 830 crore to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary that will be engaged in the business of fabless semiconductor chip design and product ownership and not manufacturing, said L&T chief financial officer, R Shankar Raman.
«At the moment we are looking at fabless semiconductor chip design business as a less investment, high technology business. We will have an R&D center for fabless semiconductor chips that may be in the US,» said Shankar Raman post the company's earnings call on Tuesday.
He added that the company has decided to stay at the design end because it can be patented and will be most valuable.
The company said its presence in the IT & Technology Services (IT&TS) Segment gives it some amount of domain capability in the segment.
«We actually wanted to participate in the opportunity that is opening up in semiconductors. While multinationals are using the Indian talent base, we thought given our brand and our engineering capability, we should be able to do that,» Shankar Raman said, adding that the global market is the play area, so the company might have to have some marketing firepower in the US, Europe, and Japan, mostly focused on automobile and industrial chip designing.
