समाचार Samāchār · Tech & AI · 27 October 2026

HCLTech opens two chip engineering centres in India for Japan’s Rapidus

The Bengaluru and Hubli centres will do mask design, process design kits and layout for the Japanese advanced logic chipmaker. HCLTech will also train Indian engineers for Rapidus’ work in Japan.

Indian engineers are moving closer to the front line of advanced chipmaking. HCLTech and Rapidus, the Japanese company building advanced logic semiconductors, on Monday inaugurated two HCLTech development centres in Bengaluru and Hubli. The ceremony was held at HCLTech’s headquarters in Noida.

The scope is deep process work, not back-office support. The centres will handle mask design, design infrastructure, process design kit development, design technology co-optimisation and layout design. HCLTech will also build a pipeline of Indian engineering talent to meet Rapidus’ needs in Japan. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike said the collaboration gives Rapidus access to India’s growing pool of semiconductor engineering talent. HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar said advanced semiconductors will define the technologies of the next decade. Both framed the deal as part of the Japan–India partnership.

This is the services engine feeding the manufacturing engine. Process design kits and mask design are what turn a fab into a product line. Doing that work in India builds skills that stay here when the fabs come home. Hubli matters too. Chip engineering is spreading beyond the metros. Credit goes to the HCLTech and Rapidus teams who built this. The next step is to carry the same depth into India’s own fabs and packaging plants.

What a founder takes from it: India does not need to own every fab to matter in chips. It needs to own the engineering that every fab depends on. Founders in EDA tools, design services and semiconductor training should read this as demand that is arriving now.