Associated Press
BANGALORE, April 22, 2004

American computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. plans to set up a design center in the southern Indian city of Bangalore and hire 120 engineers by the end of 2005, officials said Thursday.

Engineers in the United States or elsewhere will not be fired, as AMD is creating new jobs in India, said Keith Hawkins, design director of Sunnyvale, California-based AMD's computation products division.

"There will be no job loss. We continue to hire in all our centers. I am just happy to offload some of my workload here," Hawkins told a news conference.

The company already runs design and engineering centers in Sunnyvale, Austin, Texas and Dresden, Germany.

AMD expects its Indian engineers to work with U.S. teams on the company's new technology initiatives, including the sophisticated 64-bit computer chips, Hawkins said.

AMD plans to invest US$5 million over three years in the 38,000 square foot (3,530 sq. meter) center that is to begin operations in July.

"This is only the starting figure. Investment potential is virtually limitless," said Ajay Marathe, the new president of AMD India. "India offers us the complete ecosystem with outstanding engineering talent and cost leverage."

Scores of U.S. companies farm out software development, back-office and engineering design work to India, to benefit from low wages and plentiful skilled workers.

AMD's bigger rival, Intel Corp., and chip makers such as Texas Instruments, Silicon Laboratories and Flextronics have already moved part of their design work to India.

Intel says it is increasing its staff strength to 3,000 from about 2,000 and investing US$100 million within a year in its Bangalore center.