A surge in demand for semiconductors in areas such as automotive, computing and communications has resulted in an acute shortage of these products globally. Chipmaker Texas Instruments (TI) is working to address the supply gap globally as it ramps up production capabilities and strengthens distribution channels, according to Santosh Kumar, president & MD, TI India. Excerpts:
TI is said to be rapidly expanding production capabilities. Any plans for a wafer fab in India?
Strengthening our production capabilities is part of our capacity planning for the future. We are continuing to expand production lines at a global level, and our recent acquisition of Lehi fab [in Utah, from Micron], is expected to boost our competitive advantage in manufacturing and technology.
More from a strategic standpoint, the Lehi facility is focused on 65-nm (nanometer) and 45-nm production for our analog and embedded processing products. India is a critical R&D centre for TI, and we continue to increase our investments here in building products.
We will leverage the strength of our talent here for local as well as global markets as we keep adding more product lines.
How are you responding to the surging demand for semiconductors/chip shortages in the global market?
The Lehi fab came to the TI stable as our fourth 300-mm wafer fab manufacturing unit. This investment is a great asset and will help us ramp up advanced semiconductor processor manufacturing. A few months ago, we also introduced new purchasing features on TI.com for our customers in India to facilitate a localised, faster, and convenient buying experience.
These include payment options through online banking, credit cards, and a line of credit purchasing options in local currency to make it as easy as possible to get authentic TI products.
The chip industry is fast consolidating; will you opt for a more aggressive and acquisitive posture?
TI has been steadily growing every year, and we have been recording strong results with increasing market share. We remain focused on investing in our people, R&D, and manufacturing.
We continue to strengthen our presence in industrial and automotive, driving innovation and building products that customers want.
What is TI’s contribution towards making electronics more affordable through semiconductors?
TI has market leadership in power electronics. We work on a complete set of products for electric and hybrid-electric automotive markets, including power electronics for motor drives, real-time control units, and various sensors. Market adoption of EVs in this decade has definitely pushed more technology innovations to be made available at the right price points.
Along with a strong market presence in ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems), we have several plays in automotive markets where semiconductor content is continually rising.
Rapid progress is also being made on medical signal chain, and we are delivering competitive products for markets such as CT, X-rays and ultrasound. Communication markets are accelerating with 5G+ technology and we contribute to signal chain and RF technologies.
What makes analog increasingly relevant today?
Quite simply — all real-world signals are analog and these need to be processed. We need to condition and process these signal chains for humans or machines, and that means there will always be a need for analog signal processing. That said, TI also does a lot of work in the digital space and, for thousands of our products, we need analog, digital and software competencies.