AMD plans to double engineering staff in India

World’s second largest chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. announced Thursday that it will double its staff strength in India to 200 engineers within the next 18 months as it also seeks to step up sales in the country.

“Over the next one year, we will double the team," said Mr Ajay M. Marathe, President AMD India. "India has definitely appeared on AMD landscape," he added.

Sunnyvale, California based AMD has a silicon design team in Bangalore, India's technology hub. Presently, a 100 hardware engineer’s team is working on latest chip designs, besides software and alliances management (working with partner firms to consolidate knowledge). In addition to platform engineering and research and development, the firm is also strengthening its sales and marketing teams at its centre in Bangalore.

AMD's market share in India had grown to 23% in the January-March quarter on the back of increased computer usage, said Mr Marathe. It was 50% higher than the share in the October-December quarter, he added.

"Sales in India would grow 2-3 times the market rate in 2006. With the sheer growth in population of educated people and the middle-class, clearly, we have a huge opportunity in front of us," Mr Marathe said.

Demand for computers have started rising in India, a country of more than one billion people that has become an important market for AMD and its larger rival Intel Corp.

The semiconductor company also launched socket AM2 series of processors, which will enable Windows Vista users to take advantage of new capabilities such as virtualization (running different operating systems on a single PC). Energy-efficient processors, with up to 40% reduction in power, were also unveiled.

"In this age of $ 70 for a barrel of oil and power cuts every other day, these processors will make a difference in India," said Mr Mukund Ramarathnam, Director Marketing AMD India.

The firm also declared that its `Live!' digital home entertainment platform would now be available in Bangalore, through Vertex Techno Solutions. AMD Live Mediacenter laptops are likely to be out in the second half of current year.