Starting with just four employees in 1987, STMicroelectronics’ operations in India have come a long way, evolving into an organization with nearly 1900 employees, who are major contributors to ST’s worldwide success. Among the pioneering visionaries of the industry, ST was one of the very first microelectronics companies to recognize India’s potential and, by 1990, had begun its design operations in the country. Coupling a rich pool of talent with a well-focused strategy, ST’s advanced R&D center at Greater Noida is the Company’s largest outside Europe and significantly contributes to almost all key application segments of STMicroelectronics.

Research & Development Activities in India
The range of R&D activities carried out by ST in India reflects the multifunctional nature of ST’s cutting-edge technologies and the exceptional ability of India’s engineers to create industry-leading solutions. ST’s design teams in India specialize in VLSI design, embedded software development, application engineering, and company Information Systems.

In product design, engineering achievements in India include the development and industrialization of high-value SoCs (System on Chip), embedded systems, application -specific IP (Intellectual Property), and reference designs in various application segments  including digital consumer, telecommunications, imaging, car multimedia, computer peripheral, and industrial control. ST designers in India have developed embedded solutions for a wide variety of applications, including Bluetooth®, Wireless LAN, DSL, STB, and DVD.  For example, the STi5107, now a part of ST’s industry-leading family of STB decoders, was entirely designed in India.  In addition, India has been a major contributor to the development of the award-winning Nomadik™ chip family of application processors, which enables portable terminals to play music, take pictures, record video, and host two-way visual communications in real time.

India also plays a key role in the Company’s technology R&D activities. In the recent past, ST’s engineers in India have made a substantial contribution to the development of the industry’s first design platform for the latest 65-nanometer deep sub-micron CMOS technology, following a very successful contribution to the 90-nm platform. The designers here are now developing libraries for the future 45-nm generations. The platform allows ST’s own designers and those of its key customers worldwide to rapidly exploit the potential of state-of-the-art CMOS technologies in building market-leading products.

Demonstrating its strength in generating valuable IP, ST in India has filed over 600 patent applications worldwide, of which the first 98 have now been granted.

Last but not least, India is a major hub providing and supporting the Company’s worldwide IT applications, such as Business, Financial, and HR systems. This arm of ST is also certified to CMM (Capability Maturity Model) Level 5, the worldwide standard for assessing and improving software processes.

The R&D Facilities
Committed to further expansion in the country, the Company has built a state-of-the-art R&D campus on an area of 100,000 square meters at Knowledge Park 3 in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The first phase of the campus, completed in February 2006, is now hosting 1800 employees. In order to take full advantage of the fast growing development of the country, ST also established a design team of around 50 engineers in Bangalore in 2004, which has since increased to almost 100.

Marketing Approach
In addition to its leading-edge design and hardware and software development activities, the sites in Noida and Bangalore as well as Mumbai, Chennai and Pune, also support the growing base of Indian electronic manufacturers that use ST products. The Service and Marketing team in India is actively engaged in addressing the requirements of domestic customers (OEM and distribution), transnational and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) customers in different markets such as automotive, industrial, telecom, digital consumer and smart cards. At least five of ST’s top customers are local and regional manufacturers.

The team has created a low-cost, ready-to-manufacture reference design for an Indian set-top box manufacturer, which is the first of its kind for the Indian market. ST’s engineers have been instrumental in supporting ST’s technology partners that have set up operations in India. The Company has also established a strong distribution network to service and support all international and domestic customers operating in the country.

Sustainable Excellence
ST has used its longstanding experience to establish deep relationships with leading Indian universities and research institutions. For example, since 1999 ST has been operating a joint laboratory in Bangalore with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), one of the premier academic and technical institutions in India. ST also has an ongoing relationship with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the Kanpur region in the area of advanced research. Additionally, ST has been providing industrial experience to students by offering on-site trainings.

The Company is firmly committed at the worldwide level to the principle of Sustainable Excellence – creating value for all stakeholders to ensure the long term-term success of the company and its contribution to global sustainable development. Within this context, special care and attention is dedicated to environmental protection and bridging the “Digital Divide” - the huge imbalance between those who have access to Information Technology and therefore are able to benefit from it and those that do not have such access. Within India, ST signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education, Government of Uttar Pradesh, for teaching schoolteachers in and around the state how to use information technology, so they can pass on the lessons to their students. Under the ‘Digital Unify” program, ST has set up and operates computer labs in four schools across India.

ST in India has been included in the "Best Employer" category by Hewitt Associates and Business Today in 2002, 2003, while in 2001 it received the IMPRESA award from the European Bi-lateral Chambers of Commerce & Industry in India for bringing European Best Practices to the country. In 2004, ST in India was also nominated as one of the top 25 “Great Place to Work” companies. This study was conducted by Grow Talent Company in partnership with The Great Place to Work Institute, San Francisco, and Business World magazine.

The culture and policies that have led to these recognitions have contributed to the India sites’ success in attracting and retaining young, talented engineers. The average age of employees is just over 29 years. ST has been, and remains committed to, providing a stimulating working environment with exciting opportunities for Indian engineers to develop their careers.

Seamlessly integrated into ST’s global R&D (Research and Development) organization and design activities, ST’s R&D operations in India combine the power of an advanced worldwide communications network and the discipline of a global service-oriented corporate culture with the skill and enthusiasm of the Indian scientific and engineering community.