Young Liu, the CEO of Foxconn, honored with Padma Bhushan
The government of India announced on the occasion of the 75th Republic Day that Young Liu, the Chairman and CEO of Foxconn, a company based in Taiwan, will be receiving India’s third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan. This was a development that attracted a lot of attention for many reasons. Above all, Young Liu is the first Taiwanese national to receive the Padma Bhushan.
Although some analysts have connected this announcement to the strained relations between China and India, it is important to stress that this recognition is unrelated to China’s geopolitical dynamics. Notably, these viewpoints are mainly limited to some Indian experts and portals.
Foxconn has continuously increased its presence in India throughout the years. The India-Taipei Association emphasized that this recognition is an honor to Foxconn’s success story in India and highlights the country’s increasing prominence as a hub for electronics manufacturing.
https://theprint.in/opinion/padma-bhushan-foxconn-ceo-young-liu-india-taiwan-bond-china/1945298/
Editor’s Note: The Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, was recently conferred upon Young Liu, the CEO of Foxconn, a Taiwan-based company, in recognition of his outstanding contributions. This announcement, made on the 75th Republic Day, marked a historic moment as Young Liu became the first Taiwanese national to receive this prestigious honor. Officials say that this award is given to Mr. Liu as a tribute to Foxconn’s success in India and underscoring the country’s growing prominence as a hub for electronics manufacturing.
Samsung will begin making laptops in India
Samsung’s president and head of the company’s mobile experience (MX) business, T.M. Roh, stated in an interaction that the company will begin manufacturing laptops at its Noida factory this year. This move demonstrates how important India is becoming to the Korean giant, which views India as its second-largest manufacturing base.
Roh attributed Samsung’s growth in India to the government’s supportive policies. He did, however, point out that some facility optimizations were required due to the decrease in global demand in 2023.
India imposed import limits on servers, computers, tablets, and other devices in August of last year. By doing this, India’s dependence on imported IT gear was to be lessened, in keeping with production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes for consumer electronics such as tablets, laptops, and personal computers.
Mexico becomes the new hub for Indian IT operations
Customer experience management (CXM), which improves customer engagement across numerous touchpoints, has made Mexico the new hotspot. For more than ten years, TCS and Infosys have maintained a presence in Mexico. LTIMindtree just inaugurated a 100-seat facility in Mexico City. Two years ago, HCLTech, which began operations in Mexico 14 years ago, increased its presence in Guadalajara. In order to grow its present workforce of 2,400 employees nationwide, the company plans to hire 1,300 additional people over the next two years. A new engineering and sales center for GlobalLogic, a Hitachi Group company, has opened in Mexico. Mexico City and Guadalajara are the locations of the centers.
The benefits of Mexico include its close proximity to the US and Canada as well as its cultural compatibility. Mexico has around 197,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in its global services talent pool, according to US IT research consultant Everest Group. The workforce speaks English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese with good multilingual abilities.
Editor’s Note: This development signals a growing trend of Indian IT companies leveraging Mexico’s advantages to enhance customer engagement and expand their operations. The strategic move is fueled by Mexico’s geographical proximity to the US and Canada, coupled with cultural compatibility. With around 197,000 full-time equivalents in its global services talent pool, Mexico boasts a multilingual workforce proficient in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.
Krutrim – India’s first AI unicorn
Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola, launched the AI startup Krutrim, which recently announced that it has raised a $1 billion funding round. he startup, founded last year, is the fastest to become a unicorn in India, it claimed in a press statement. It added that it is the first AI startup in India to reach unicorn status.
The $50 million “first round” in Krutrim was headed by Matrix Partners India, which has previously supported Aggarwal’s other two firms, the EV startup Ola Electric and the ride-hailing platform Ola.
The Sanskrit word for “artificial,” Krutrim, is building a large language model that has been trained not only on English but also on regional Indian languages. According to the organisation, it intends to release a voice-activated conversational AI assistant that speaks and understands several Indian languages.
Govt to Launch Semiconductor Research Centre & Digital India futureLABS Soon: MoS IT
The government would shortly establish the India Semiconductor Research Centre and launch Digital India futureLABS, according to Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
The Minister declared that the India Semiconductor Research Centre will soon be established. It will act as a centre for semiconductor innovation across all spectrums, which will power systems of the future. Additionally, he stated that Digital India futureLABS, upcoming program, will soon be launched. Government laboratories, Indian startups, major businesses, and the electronics industry will all work together on this program. Along with automotive industrial platforms and tier 1 suppliers, it will concentrate on developing and designing systems for the future.
Editor’s Note: India is gearing up to establish the India Semiconductor Research Centre, a hub for semiconductor innovation across various domains to drive future systems, as announced by Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Simultaneously, the government is set to launch Digital India futureLABS, a collaborative initiative involving government laboratories, Indian startups, major businesses, and the electronics industry. This program will specifically focus on the development and design of futuristic systems, with a dedicated emphasis on automotive industrial platforms and tier 1 suppliers. The initiatives reflect a strategic push towards technological innovation and collaborative efforts within the country.
Competition Comm clears Tata Electronics-Wistron deal
According to a notification filed with the regulator, Tata Electronics intends to purchase all of the equity share capital of Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing (India) from SMS Infocomm (Singapore) Pvt Ltd (SMS Infocomm) and Wistron Hong Kong Ltd (Wistron HK).
The Wistron Group said in October of last year that it had reached a deal to sell the Tata Group a Bengaluru factory. The merger between Tata Electronics and Wistron has been approved by the regulator, according to a Tuesday update on the CCI website.
As announced last year, the board of Wistron approved the sale of Wistron InfoComm Manufacturing (India) to Tata Electronics, a division of the Tata Group, for USD 125 million.
Editor’s Note: As the deal was announced an year ago, this is only a procedural step. The regulatory approval paves the way for the successful merger between Tata Electronics, a division of the Tata Group, and Wistron, as announced last year.
AI computers will power the Indian PC market’s next replacement cycle
Asus plans to launch an AI-powered consumer notebook in India. India ranks third in the world for PC sales, although there is a significant gap between India and China. Asus is expanding its domestic production in India in the wake of the government’s 2023 implementation of the updated production-linked incentive (PLI) plan for IT products.
AI PCs are gaining popularity mostly because of Microsoft’s strong push for these next-generation laptops and desktops. In the next five to ten years, AI PCs will be considered cutting edge, according to Arnold Su, vice president of consumer and gaming PCs at Asus India.
According to the Su, Asus is currently the second-biggest brand for consumer and gaming PCs after HP in India, where entry-level PC market share is only 5%, compared to 40% in Indonesia, which he claims has a comparable GDP.
Editor’s Note: This is an interesting read as appeared in Indian News as it will give an insight on India’s PC market, that too from a seasoned expert of the field in India from Taiwan, Mr. Arnold Su of Asus.