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Prime Minister Narendra Modi met leading American CEOs, and talked about the semiconductor, drones, defense, ‘One world, One sun and One grid’ solar initiative and urged them to establish manufacturing in India.
The CEOs meeting was held at Willard InterContinental, Washington, on Sept 23, and it was a one-on-one meeting with the CEOs of semiconductor and wireless technology manufacturer Qualcomm, software major Adobe, renewable energy firm First Solar, arms manufacturer General Atomics and investment management company Blackstone.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon after the meeting with Modi talked to the media welcomed Modi’s manufacturing initiative but noted they don’t manufacture semiconductors in India but could be an important destination if the infrastructure is available.
With headquarter in San Diego, California, Qualcomm is a multinational corporation, which creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. The company has a huge presence in India including in research and development(R&D).
Amon said: “We’re so proud of a partnership within India we’ve been in India for 26 years, we have over, 12,000 employees. We do a lot of our chips, and do a lot of software and we talk about many things are very relevant, I think to what we think about the future technology, 5G and acceleration of 5G, there is an incredible opportunity to advance the industry not only domestically in India but India as an exporter of technology as we think about the digital transformation to enable by 5G combined with the design in India.”
Pointing to the semiconductor sector, which is also one of the key focus areas during the quad meeting on Sept 24, Amon said, on various PLI schemes, “We think this might give a major push to the, to the semiconductor sector, the 5G the AI primarily, of course, and this give a point to invest or build up the capacities as far as supply chain diversification is concerned.
“We will continue to invest in India, in R&D you know we are a company that are 100 percent fabless. So we don’t manufacture our own semiconductors. However, we see a lot of activity, right now, because of the necessity to Geo diversify and build a very resilient supply chain for semiconductors, we believe, India could be an important destination, and if that infrastructure is available,” Amon said. “We will be very happy to partner with India.”
Sharing on investment and doing business in India , Amon said that they have massively invested in India, not only have invested directly, but also have supported other companies for example they have built a Qualcomm designing India program that help 77 startup companies in India, designed based on technology.
According to media reports, PM Modi has assured Qualcomm that India will proactively work on the proposals made by them. Since Qualcomm has trusted Indian talent already, it can now trust Indian talent and start manufacturing with the advantage the PLI scheme offers.[ Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing] Modi also talked about the new liberalized drone policy and said that Qualcomm could take part in new opportunities in the new emerging market.
It is expected that high-level meetings would pave the way for big investment in the new tech area that is required to help the country leapfrog to providing its citizens with the next generation of networking services.
Modi also met Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President and CEO, Adobe. The discussions focused on leveraging technology to provide smart education to the youngsters and enhance research. They also discussed the vibrant startup sector in India, powered by the youth of the country.
“PM Modi believes that technology is the way to help things move forward,” Narayen said after the meeting, adding that the company intends to continue to invest heavily in India.
The CEO of FirstSolar, Mark Widmar, also called on Modi. During the meeting, Modi elaborated India’s efforts to harness solar energy, including the ‘One world, One sun and One grid’ initiative and investment opportunities in the sector.
“The strong balance created between India’s industrial and trade policies has built ideal opportunities for companies like FirstSolar to establish manufacturing in India. The productivity linked incentive (PLI) schemes will help India attract more investment in manufacturing from the US,” Widmar said.
PM’s discussions with Vivek Lall of GeneralAtomics Global Corporation hovered around India’s strides in drone technology, including the reforms and the PLI scheme.
“There are lots of potential areas of collaboration that we are in discussions with. The opportunities are a win win for both the countries,” Lall said.
India is in the process of procuring a significant number of drones for the three branches of its armed forces. It has also leased a few drones from General Atomics.
[With inputs from IANS and photos courtesy: Twiter]
