SemIndia rejected Karnataka's plea to reconsider its decision of locating its semiconductor foundry in Bangalore instead of in Hyderabad.
BANGALORE: The New Delhi trip was for a sales pitch to bag the silicon foundry hub status for Bangalore, but Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy returned empty handed.
SemIndia, a consortium of non-resident Indian investors, rejected Karnataka's plea to reconsider its decision of locating its semiconductor foundry in Bangalore instead of in Hyderabad.
"Though SemIndia officials conveyed to me that they have taken a hasty decision, they were clear that there was no question of reconsidering it," Kumaraswamy said here on Wednesday, after his maiden trip to New Delhi where he also met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought additional funds for the tech city.
However, SemIndia CEO Vinod Agarwal has apparently promised to invest in Karnataka, probably in semiconductor design as the bulk of India's chip designers are based in Bangalore.
"It would be very difficult for a NRI firm to revise its decision. However the firm has sought time to decide on some investments in Karnataka," Kumaraswamy said.
In an attempt to improve investor confidence, Kumaraswamy said that the government would act fast to ensure that the Hardware Park near the Devanahalli airport would take off soon.
"We will take all steps to ensure that the Hardware Park comes up quickly," he said.
SemIndia plans to invest $ 3 billion in the foundry that will have core technology from chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and is expected to cater to both the domestic and global markets.
Incidentally, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also chose Hyderabad over Bangalore to locate its southern office. The Union government has promised that it is willing to locate the "Centre for Corporate Excellance," a body by the Ministry of Company Affairs, in Bangalore, if the government acts fast in providing infrastructure. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised Central assistance for improving infrastructure in Bangalore and other major cities in the state, Kumaraswamy said.
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