How India R&D is helping Qualcomm move beyond smartphones

Hawaii, Nov 17 As chip major Qualcomm aims to go beyond serving the global smartphone industry to cater to a bigger device ecosystem, the company's over 17,000-strong India workforce is helping it realise the dream to become a connected chip powerhouse, according to top executives.

With centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Noida, the India R&D operation is the company's largest outside of its US-based headquarters.

Ziad Asghar, Vice President, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, told that India is a sweet spot for them to transition from a wireless communications company for the mobile industry to a connected processor company for the intelligent edge.

"India R&D teams are busy working towards our goal to enter and lead new device territories beyond smartphones. We have some of the brightest people working on new technologies, especially at the Bengaluru and Hyderabad centres, giving our vision a concrete shape," Asghar informed.

Qualcomm has large teams across hardware and software engineering in India, including 5G and augmented and virtual reality.

The company has placed a big bet on the Extended Reality