Latest news with #DavidKu
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Strong opportunities, but India will take time to be a chip hub: MediaTek executive
New Delhi: Scarcity of skilled workers could delay India's rise as a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, said a top executive at Taiwanese chipmaker the complexity and time involved in setting up semiconductor facilities, MediaTek said it typically takes four years from groundbreaking to mass production—even in the US which has an established workforce.'For India, where the workforce in the semiconductor manufacturing industry is still relatively new, it might take longer,' David Ku, co-COO, and CFO, MediaTek told reporters on comments come in the midst of India's push to emerge as a chip manufacturing powerhouse, with six chip fabrication facilities approved so far. The latest is a joint venture between HCL and Taiwan's Foxconn, in Uttar Pradesh. 'India's semiconductor strategy has historically emphasized chip design, where we've successfully captured a significant portion of the global talent pool. However, our focus on the hardware and manufacturing side has been limited,' said Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research. 'Now, as we actively push for fabs and semiconductor manufacturing within India, we're working to bridge this gap. This will take time because there's a substantial skill mismatch between academia and industry,' Pathak said. He added that even if India begins training at the university level today, it could take 5-10 years to cultivate the necessary real-world hardware expertise. 'Alternatively, we can accelerate this process by attracting talent from other countries to facilitate knowledge transfer. We're already seeing this happen, and companies like MediaTek can play a crucial role in this endeavor,' Pathak said. MediaTek sees India as a front end for software development—which comprise a major part of its operations in the country. 'On the software side, we have been very aggressive in training the Indian workforce, driven by the availability of skilled talent,' Ku said. Mediatek also sees strong opportunities following the Indian government delicensing the lower portion of the 6GHz band for WiFi services. Thomas Ho, marketing director, MediaTek, said the development will catapult the launch and deployment of WiFi 7, which offers far faster speeds than previous generations, in India. 'The adoption of WiFi 7 in India depends heavily on the device ecosystem and the pervasiveness of high-speed connectivity, like gigabit connections, which are not very widespread…For many subscribers in India, the current speeds are around 30 Mbps, for which WiFi 6 is sufficient,' Ho said. Telecom operators see WiFi 7 as a way to boost average revenue per user (ARPU), add more services, and position themselves as technology leaders. In satellite connectivity, which is starting to take off in India, MediaTek said it is working on customer premises equipment (CPEs) such as hybrid set-top boxes catering to both terrestrial and satellite requirements. A supplier to Elon Musk-owned Starlink, MediaTek said the converged technology is ready, but the costs of deployment are high. 'Whether operators deploy such devices depends on the operator's strategy…There are already talks in other regions of the world about using satellite or 5G as a backup when wired broadband is unavailable…A one-box solution is possible,' Ho said. MediaTek sees the future where with 6G connectivity, a consumer will not know whether the communication signal is coming from a terrestrial network or a satellite network, adding that the convergence between the two will be a major opportunity, considering them as the 'two main trunks of connectivity.'
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Strong opportunities, but India will take time to be a chip hub: MediaTek executive
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Scarcity of skilled workers could delay India's rise as a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, said a top executive at Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek Highlighting the complexity and time involved in setting up semiconductor facilities, MediaTek said it typically takes four years from groundbreaking to mass production-even in the US which has an established workforce."For India, where the workforce in the semiconductor manufacturing industry is still relatively new, it might take longer," David Ku , co-COO, and CFO, MediaTek told reporters on comments come in the midst of India's push to emerge as a chip manufacturing powerhouse, with six chip fabrication facilities approved so far. The latest is a joint venture between HCL and Taiwan's Foxconn, in Uttar however, sees India as a front end for software development-which comprise a major part of its operations in the country. "On the software side, we have been very aggressive in training the Indian workforce, driven by the availability of skilled talent," Ku also sees strong opportunities following the Indian government delicensing the lower portion of the 6GHz band for WiFi Ho, marketing director, MediaTek, said the development will catapult the launch and deployment of WiFi 7, which offers far faster speeds than previous generations, in said telecom operators see WiFi 7 as a way to boost average revenue per user (ARPU), add more services, and position themselves as technology satellite connectivity, which is starting to take off in India, MediaTek said it is working on customer premises equipment (CPEs) such as hybrid set-top boxes catering to both terrestrial and satellite requirements.A supplier to Elon Musk-owned Starlink, MediaTek said the converged technology is ready, but the costs of deployment are high. "...There are already talks in other regions of the world about using satellite or 5G as a backup when wired broadband is unavailable...A one-box solution is possible," Ho sees the future where with 6G connectivity, a consumer will not know whether the communication signal is coming from a terrestrial network or a satellite network.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
MediaTek continues to invest in India, eyes RedCap devices to enhance consumer experience: David Ku
TAIPEI: Taiwanese fabless chipset company MediaTek said that it will continue to invest in India to expand operations including headcount, and says 5G reduced capacity (RedCap) Internet of Things (IoT)-based devices would enhance consumer experience. 'India is a great opportunity. Resource and operation-wise, we are continuing to invest. We'll start with beefing up more marketing initiatives in India,' David Ku, COO and CFO, MediaTek said. In 2024, the Hsinchu-based multinational earned $16.5 billion in revenues, and has more than 21,000 employees worldwide that includes over 1,000 employees in India. It spent nearly 25% or $4 billion on research and development (R&D) activities last year. On Tuesday, the Taiwanese company, founded by Ming-Kai Tsai, debuted the world's smallest chipset to power smartphones. The 2-nanometer (nm) chip would be commercially available by next quarter. TSMC, a MediaTek partner, is expected to commence mass production of the 2nm processor soon. The company is also banking on RedCap technology-enabled devices as a part of its IoT strategy. 'It's (RedCap) actually is not just a product, it's actually a customer engagement. And probably, we will start with IoT and also wearables,' the top executive said. The new technology products, according to Ku, consume less power, and leverage fifth-generation or 5G networks that allow low-latency communication. The 5G RedCap-based devices offer a range of capabilities and high performance levels, and enable mid-range IoT applications such as Extended Reality (XR) glasses, health monitors, wearables and sensors, and video surveillance cameras. Citing power efficiency, the executive said that consumers could get the benefit of the 5G although sometimes they don't want the legacy of the 5G. 'For IoT, power consumption is very important. If you use the traditional modem, the power consumption is not going to fit the profile.' The technology is designed to bridge the gap between conventional 5G and IoT, focusing on applications that require moderate data rates and low power consumption, in addition to native 5G features such as network slicing. It has emerged as a key component of 5G technology . Distinguished by its efficient spectrum utilisation, low power consumption, and cost benefits. Emerged last year, the 5G RedCap technology is poised to play a role in a wide range of industries, according to the London-based GSMA. In February last year, MediaTek launched its 5G RedCap portfolio - MediaTek T300 platform, an RF-system-on-chip (SoC) for IoT applications, built with MediaTek's M60 modem. Earlier, the Taiwanese chipset company said that it would be collaborating with leading infrastructure providers and telecom carriers worldwide to connect to 5G SA networks and conduct Voice over New Radio (VoNR) calls and data transmissions using the MediaTek T300 platform. (The author is in Taipei, attending Computex 2025 at the invitation of MediaTek)
