India is a key chip design market, Qualcomm says, as Modi makes semiconductor push

Qualcomm is already designing chips in India as it taps on the country's pool of talented engineers, Qualcomm India's president said in an exclusive interview.

"We already have chips that are actually designed completely end to end in India and we are shipping those globally," Savi Soin, president of Qualcomm India, told CNBC.

The American chip giant designs semiconductors and wireless telecommunications products. Qualcomm is best known for its Snapdragon processors which power some of the top Android smartphones across the world.

Like any chip designer, Qualcomm doesn't manufacture its own chips. Instead, it relies on chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung Electronics and GlobalFoundries.

"We have more engineers in India now than we have anywhere else in the globe," said Soin. "We have a lot of engineers here doing end-to-end chip design."

The chip design process is "highly complex" as it requires "years of R&D, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, and thousands of engineers," said Semiconductor Industry Association in a report.

An integral part of the semiconductor manufacturing process, chip design defines the requirements for the chip's architecture and system, as well as how individual circuits will be laid out on the chip.

Local media reported in January that Qualcomm is expanding its Chennai operations with a new design center focusing on wireless technology.

The 1.77 billion rupee ($21.3 million) investment will also support Qualcomm's commitment to the Indian government's vision of "Make in India" and "Design in India."

"We saw India 20 years ago as a great R&D center of excellence and a great pool of talent. We're seeing India as a great market, as [a] great opportunity," Soin told CNBC's Sri Jegarajah.

"We