Electronics and semiconductors contribute 5.6% of India’s GDP today. As the global demand for AI-driven solutions rises, India is positioning itself as a key player in the semiconductor industry.
Marvell Technology, an American semiconductor developer, is among the global semiconductor giants tapping into India’s potential.
In an interview with AIM, Sandeep Bharathi, CDO at Marvell Technology, discussed the company’s focus on advancing data infrastructure from cloud data centres to focus on moving, storing, processing, and securing data.
How is the Company Performing in India?
Marvell has steadily increased its footprint in India, with three major sites in Bangalore, Pune, and Hyderabad. The company, which employs over 1,500 professionals, collaborates with universities to upskill talent. This reinforces India’s role as a semiconductor hub.
“The way we take a look at it is that Marvell has around 7,000 employees globally. Next year, we’ll hit a million-dollar revenue per employee, which is an important milestone,” Bharathi said.
Moreover, he highlighted a slowdown in certain sectors, such as enterprise and automation, saying, “The way we look at it is, ‘It’s a diversified product portfolio, and we want to be in businesses where we make money’.”
Position in the Semiconductor Market
In the global semiconductor landscape, Marvell Technology stands alongside giants like NVIDIA, Broadcom, Qualcomm, and AMD in terms of market capitalisation. When asked about its competitive edge, Bharathi attributed it to the company’s reputation as a breakthrough innovator.
“The market is giving us our size multiple only because we are bringing technologies to the market that people want and care about…That’s the reason you can see the market react.”
One of the most significant challenges in semiconductor development is cost. Advanced process nodes require substantial investment, and development costs for a single chip can range from $100 million to $200 million.
This makes precision and getting it right at the first chance critical for success. “Missing the market window due to errors could result in significant financial and time losses,” he added.
Packaging is Key
Packaging technologies are critical in the semiconductor industry, particularly for creating cost-effective and energy-efficient solutions for data centres.
With massive infrastructure and power demands, data centres benefit from advancements in 2D, 2.5D, 3D, and 3.5D packaging. These innovations improve chip integration and reduce energy consumption while enhancing performance.
Another essential element is data movement from chip to chip, board to board, or rack to rack. “Signaling technologies that are necessary to do this are complex, whether it’s data bandwidth is 100G, 200G, 400G,” Bharathi said.
Higher Investments in AI, Efficiency and R&D
Marvell Technology continues to prioritise research and development (R&D) by focusing on advanced geometries like 3nm and 2nm. These cutting-edge technologies, which increase in cost by 30% annually, require significant investment.
The company has doubled its R&D footprint in recent years, reflecting its commitment to innovation. Over the past five years, Marvell’s revenue has grown from $3.3 billion to a projected doubling by next year. Over 70% of the company’s revenue comes from enabling infrastructure for AI applications, such as hyperscale data centres.
Additionally, Marvell develops semiconductor solutions for 5G and automotive Ethernet to support connected cars. These solutions include linking sensors, radar, LiDAR, and cameras through Ethernet backbones to enable seamless communication within automotive systems.
As energy demands rise, the company prioritises energy-efficient chip designs to support the sustainability of large-scale data centres. This aligns with broader industry goals to reduce environmental impacts.
Contrary to popular opinion, Bharathi called data localisation an impossible task. “It’s great to talk about, oh, we have to keep the data localised. I honestly don’t think that’s going to happen…The only way is if we relocate an entire city to the middle of nowhere, and you start from scratch.”
What do Other Leaders Have to Say?
During a fireside chat at the VLSID Conference 2025, the panelists highlighted India’s ambitions to grow its semiconductor contribution and accelerate the Viksit Bharat 2047 initiative.
Santhosh Kumar, MD at Texas Instruments, highlighting India’s potential, said, “By 2047, with a projected GDP of $30 trillion, electronics and semiconductor contribution could grow to 10%, equating to a $3 trillion industry.”
Other industry veterans, including Sanjay Nayak, co-founder of Tejas Networks, and Ganapathy Subramaniam, managing partner at Yali Capital, also emphasised this.
Subramaniam further said that, unfortunately, even though India consumes a lot of electronic gadgets, 5% of the electronics stack, roughly 25% of those electronics are semiconductors. “We contribute nothing as an Indian headquarters.”
What is the Goal for India?
The US dominates global semiconductor design, accounting for 75% of the total, followed by Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Europe. America has the chip design market but not as much of a consumer market. India contributes significantly to talent but lacks domestic intellectual property rights (IPR).
The path to becoming a semiconductor powerhouse involves building robust intellectual property (IP) and fostering a domestic ecosystem for product development. While India hosts a significant portion of global semiconductor design talent, multinational corporations own a large portion of the intellectual property.
The goal is to increase India’s value addition in semiconductor manufacturing from the current 10% to 40–50% by 2047. Achieving this would result in a 100-fold increase in value addition compared to today, which is essential for driving economic growth, creating jobs, and securing a strategic economic position globally.
Partnerships are Essential
A key takeaway is the need to create India-centric innovations for sectors such as mobility, renewable energy, and telecommunications. With the advent of electric vehicles, solar power systems, and next-generation communication technologies, the demand for India-specific semiconductor solutions is surging.
Nayak said that strengthening India’s semiconductor ecosystem by fostering partnerships with GCCs within India is crucial.
With India’s vast talent pool and market capacity, there is a unique opportunity to create mutually beneficial partnerships.
“Japan is an ageing economy with an average age of 50. Huge technologies are available, like OLED display, But they have not been able to compete squarely with Korea and China,” Subramaniam added.
Two-Wheelers Could be a Big Opportunity
The two-wheeler market is another highly beneficial local market for India. The country’s growing consumption of chips and electronics provides a foundation for this approach.
“Two-wheeler, automobile, it’s our market. Why do we make controllers, which are four-wheeler controllers, for our two-wheeler market? It’s a large market,” Subramaniam said.
Moreover, the strategic importance of semiconductors in national security and economic growth was underscored.
India can secure a seat at the global technology table by developing domestic manufacturing capabilities and focusing on partnerships with global players. The conversation also called for nurturing talent in areas like product management and system design to ensure end-to-end capabilities.
