Here 'IS A' Quest

The next dream destination for semiconductors is presently
caught in a web of realism. Challenged by the number of qualified manpower it
has and it needs, the Semiconductor Association of India (ISA), this
industry's lobby, has chalked out a couple of sensible plans to bridge gaps.

But first, the numbers that tell a lot. A recently released
Frost and Sullivan report pegs the current semiconductor and embedded design
manpower strength at 74,000. By 2015, India would need 780,000 people in this
space. In electronics manufacturing, the country has 45,000 people right now. By
2015, it needs 2.7 mn. In what looks like a conservative estimate, the study
predicts the fabrication space to employ 23,000 people, taking the total
employment required in the semiconductor industry to 3.58 mn by 2015. Where will
so many qualified people come from?

An easy answer is our engineering colleges. The difficult
question is are they really the right resource? Even though every year an army
of students graduate from our colleges, not many of them are
semiconductor-savvy. That's because universities here have not caught up on
this kind of education. It is not theoretical education and few institutes have
the infrastructure or tools required to provide quality practical VLSI education
for example. This is the challenge ISA has been looking to address for some time
now.

Emulating some of the best practices adopted world-wide,
ISA has launched what is calls the University Gateway program, which tries to
seed, get universities up to speed on VLSI education. Universities that have
attained some level of expertise are encouraged to climb up the ladder further.
“We are seeding curriculum and also enable these colleges in real practical
science-make tools available, involve industry into the projects, get
universities to be able to design real chips, help them in terms of proto-typing
among others-it is an ambitious program that will take some time,” says
Rajendra Kumar Khare, ISA chairman, also the MD of Broadcom India.

ISA has currently short listed 40 universities all over the
country and want its member companies (there are around 90) to go set up the
infrastructure in universities. A program has been designed just to seed
research and create patent awareness in these universities. An ISA 'Techno
Vision' shield has been created that will be given away to universities that
take part and excel. “We are also trying to do PhD fellowships to be supported
by industry for industry-academia relevant research programs. There is a program
called Technology Vision, which is to create pre-competitive R&D framework.

To take care of recruitment blues, the association has
right now gone ahead with a plan titled Si-Quest. Lot of the semiconductor
companies are small, small enough not to be able to go to campuses and recruit
the best. The fact is, small companies can be very attractive in terms of
intellectual challenge and even in terms of compensation. So a quest has been
designed to tap the best available talent. The 40 short listed universities
undergo an awareness effort about these companies and work opportunities. After
a filtering, the right candidates are invited to three or four cities where
semiconductor companies can go to for engaging in placements.

And what about the human resource required in the fab city,
an area where India has zero skill sets at the moment? You can look West or
East, or wherever you want. Initially at least, there will be a lot of
foreigners housing at our fabs.

Goutam Das

goutamd@cybermedia.co.in