Qualcomm emphasized India’s increasingly vital role in its global strategy for semiconductor innovation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) during the recent Snapdragon Summit. Company leaders highlighted India as a major hub, not just a market, for future growth and technological development.
India: A Global Innovation Hub for Qualcomm
Qualcomm executives underscored India’s critical contribution to the company’s research and development, particularly for its next-generation chips.
- Engineering Talent: A substantial portion of the design work for new technologies, such as the Snapdragon X2 Elite chipset for AI-driven PCs, originates from Qualcomm’s key centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad. This reliance on Indian engineering talent is central to developing cutting-edge technology for both mobile and PC platforms.
- Local-to-Global Innovation: Qualcomm President of India, Savi Soin, stated that the company has more engineers in India than anywhere else in the world and is actively innovating in India for both local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and global partners.
- Key Market for Growth: India is viewed as a central market for premium experiences, next-generation networks like 6G, and other future technologies.
Semiconductor Manufacturing and Local Partnerships
In line with the Indian government’s push for a domestic semiconductor ecosystem, Qualcomm confirmed its commitment to localizing aspects of its supply chain and fostering partnerships in the country.
- Manufacturing Support: Qualcomm is actively working with domestic partners, including the Tata Group, on initiatives for local chip packaging and fabrication.
- Government Alignment: The company expressed support for the Indian government’s incentives designed to boost domestic chip manufacturing.
Driving AI Innovation
AI was a major theme at the Summit, with Qualcomm positioning its new Snapdragon platforms as the foundation for the next era of on-device AI. Indian teams play a crucial part in this shift.
- On-Device AI Focus: The new flagship chips, like the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for mobile and the Snapdragon X2 Elite for PCs, feature significant improvements in the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to handle complex AI workloads natively—right on the device.
- Agentic AI: This technology is enabling personalized AI agents that can learn and proactively suggest actions in real-time without compromising user privacy.
- Product Development: India’s engineering teams are instrumental in developing the AI Engine that powers these capabilities, extending its proven success from smartphones to the new “AI PC” era.
Qualcomm’s focus on India solidifies the country’s position as a global center for high-value semiconductor design and AI development.
