Xiaomi, MediaTek to introduce more chipsets designed in India

Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company MediaTek -- set to bring its gaming-focused 'Helio G90' chipset series in India in partnership with Chinese company Xiaomi -- is working towards designing more smartphone chipsets that will be designed in India, a senior executive has said.

The entire processor design, System on Chip (SoC) integration and gaming software of the MediaTek Helio G90 series have been designed at the company`s facility in Bengaluru.

"There are many more smartphone chips in the pipeline aimed to be designed in India. To do that, you need the right engineering talent and leadership. That`s where the investment comes -- in hiring the right talent to grow the design teams to be able to work on the chips," Rituparna Mandal, General Manager, MediaTek, told IANS.

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The Helio G90 chip series is slated to debut in India next month and Chinese handset Xiaomi is the first player to partner with MediaTek to include its "Helio G90" chip series in its device. According to the fabless semiconductor firm, the overall time taken to design the chip series was around six months.

"Helio G90 has an Octa Core design and the first MediaTek product which has the `Arm Cortex A76 plus` processor going up to speeds of over 2.05Ghz. We worked on the complete designing as well as the overall chip integration. The overall timeline was extremely aggressive," Mandal informed.

To further leverage Indian talent, MediaTek is looking to ramp up its headcount in the country.

"India is a powerhouse of talented engineers who are available in both verticals, hardware and software, especially chip design talent that is pretty strong in Bengaluru. We are definitely looking at growing. In Noida and Bengaluru, we have about 650 engineers and are looking at a strength of 800 in the coming years," Mandal elaborated.

The Taiwanese firm has three facilities in the country that focus on research and development (R&D) work. It opened its first R&D-focused centre in Noida in 2004 before starting operations in Bengaluru in 2014.