GPUs, Fab, Products: L&T Semiconductor Is Paving Its Way Ahead We have a strong portfolio for the future needs of India, says Sandeep Kumar, CEO of LTSCT

With a pipeline of more than 50 customers and 11 active projects on the product side, L&T Semiconductor Technologies (LTSCT), a fabless chip company, is ready to power India's semiconductor aspirations. The company has plans on rolling out graphics processing units (GPUs); however, it is time-bound. This financial year(FY) is on track and LTSCT is ahead of its plans– that's what the top boss believes, "I think we are going well on track, maybe ahead of our plan. Our focus is on acquiring customers and I think we are making a lot of positive progress in Japan, Europe, U.S. and in India. GPUs are in the pipeline but it's not a six month project. Our GPU program is active, it will take some time to come to market. Things can evolve and change in the next five years," said Sandeep Kumar, CEO of LTSCT.

"We will have a strong portfolio for the future needs of India. That should all come together by the end of June. We are also finalizing the licensing of the CPU, GPU, NPU, ISP," he added.

Talking about the highest performing sector, the CEO emphasized on the opportunities in the automotive and industrial sectors. The company is working on various programs, and the automotive sector holds high importance. The company will be kicking off an automotive program soon, which will firm up the type of CPU, GPU, NPU, AI processor, the company would require to work on. "The demand is coming from all, but the traction is driven by where we are putting more energy. So far, the first year we were focused on automotive. We will have significant traction in the industrial sector within a few months. Then in the energy sector, we are heavy on the customer interest, but we are still finalizing on the right products. Datacenter, solar, wind, battery, storage, we have a lot of demand, but we haven't finalized our products yet. In about six months, we would be able to decide," he said.

Talking about revenue generation, he shared, "We have programs that will start generating revenue this year in the industrial sector. Then there are projects that will start generating revenue in the industrial and energy sector from next financial year. Programs in the automotive sector have a longer lead time, maybe three years from now and then data center projects would yield revenue in four or five years."

LTSCT's main focus is to add more customers. Its clientele is 20-30 percent India based and 30 percent Europe. The rest is Japan and the US at 20 percent each. Kumar had been nurturing the idea that India must stop being the back office of the global semiconductor industry and start owning its semiconductor IP. At a time when Indian semiconductor companies were moving into manufacturing and assembly, he took a different route: He ventured into chip design and that's where the power lies. Kumar earlier revealed that the company plans to establish its own chip manufacturing plants once it achieves a revenue threshold between USD 50 million and USD 1 billion across different semiconductor technologies– however, it might be a different case now.

"Each of these products is different with differences in customers and technology. The development cycle on these products can be up to two years. So, once we are in production, then we will have the clarity or the visibility on what kind of fab we want. There is some kind of a plan when you start with, but then the reality is different. We are still a year and a half away from taking any decision on fabs," he explained.