NeST group is one of the leading hardware manufacturing company in the country. With the increasing penetration of mobile phones in India, there will be enough market in India itself for semi-conductor chips in the future, Javad Hassan, chairman, NeST Group, said.
NeST has identified semi-conductor technology as the vehicle for a quantum leap in growth, he said adding that just like Korea, Taiwan and now China are the world's manufacturing centres based on their strength in semi-conductor technology, India held the potential to take their position if right investments and technology were applied in the country.
NeST group has a clear roadmap on VLSI technology, he said adding the first phase was to set up a 200 seat VLSI design centre in association with a leading Japanese chipmaker. A Japanese delegation has already visited Cochin and talks have been completed for setting up such a design facility.
The second phase involves setting up of a 12-inch Silcon wafer manufacturing facility from silicon ingots.
This will be followed by the third phase, which involves establishing a foundry for manufacturing memory chips, for mobile phones and other consumer electronic products, he said. India is going to be the biggest market for these products in the future, Javad said.
Javad said the total investment outlay for these projects will be around $1 billion and investors from Japan and Middle East have already been identified for this prestigious project. The project was expected to be operational by the end of 2008.
The basic pre-requisite for such a critical project is the availability of uninterrupted quality power and large amount of de-ionized water, he said adding therefore, NeST was also looking at investing in setting up a power and water project to support the semi-conductor project.
N Jehangir, managing director, NeST Group, who was also present, said, "NeST is also expanding its operations into planar lightwave circuits (optical chips) for broadband communication applications."
NeST group has plans for major expansion of their activities by diversifying into new areas of technologies.
Maintaining its technology leadership in the country in areas of research and development, hi-tech manufacture and engineering software development, NeST has been able to develop world-class technologies, set up modern manufacturing facilities and establish a global presence as a total solution provider, Javad said adding these activities generated global revenue of over Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) for the group during the last financial year.
It was expected that the current business would grow at the rate of 30-40 per cent , he said. NeST group is among the fastest growing companies with a base in Cochin and has recorded a growth level in 2004-05 to the tune of 60 per cent over the last year.
Around 80 per cent of its export comprises of hardware to countries including USA, UK, Japan and the Middle East.
