Rapidus, HCLTech Open Bengaluru and Hubli Design Centers
HCLTech and Rapidus opened design centers in Bengaluru and Hubli on Oct. 26 for mask, kit and layout work tied to Rapidus's logic plans in Japan. No contract value was disclosed.
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The Oct. 26 release names two design centers. It does not name a fee, a headcount or a process node.
Illustration (AI-generated)
HCLTech and Rapidus inaugurated two development centers in Bengaluru and Hubli on Oct. 26, the companies said, to do semiconductor design work for Rapidus's logic manufacturing effort in Japan.
The release, issued from Tokyo and Noida, lists mask design, design infrastructure, process design kit development, design-technology co-optimization and layout design. HCLTech will also help recruit and train Indian engineers for Rapidus roles in Japan. It does not state a fee, a headcount or a process node.
Rapidus is trying to build advanced logic production in Japan, and a foundry cannot take outside designs into a line without masks and a process design kit. A pair of dedicated centers is a staffing commitment. It is not, on this release, a wafer start or a capacity number.
The India sites support design services. The release does not start a wafer line.
Illustration (AI-generated)
In the same release, Rapidus describes its own aim as shortening cycle times across design, wafer processing and 3D packaging. The India scope that is actually listed is the design slice of that sentence: masks, kits and layout. Wafer processing and packaging are not assigned to Bengaluru or Hubli.
What the companies said
Rapidus chief executive Atsuyoshi Koike said the company expects the tie-up to add Indian engineering talent and a development setup that complements its Japan operations. HCLTech chief executive C Vijayakumar called it a Japan-India engineering partnership aimed at shorter design cycles. Neither executive gave a shipment date.
Samsung's reported tool order for its Taylor, Texas, fab is a separate foundry program in another country. Rapidus did not say these India centers will support a named node, and this story does not treat the two projects as one plan.
What is not confirmed yet
The release leaves the contract value, the number of engineers and the process node unstated. It also does not say when the centers' work would show up in wafers. Those are the figures that would turn a design-services opening into a capacity story.
