Monday, February 21 2005 17:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Agere Systems today (Feb 21, 2005) announced that it has officially opened its new Indian Design Centre at Bangalore to expand the company's semiconductor design presence in India.

With the expansion of its chip design operations by opening the facility at International Technology Park, the company now has two sites here in India with a capacity to house more than 350 people and made an investment of $ 25 million so far, Agere executives said in Bangalore.

Agere Systems India, a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based Agere Systems Inc, a global leader in semiconductors for storage, wireless data and public and enterprise networks, now employs 200 people in India.

Jonathan Fields, vice-president of design platform technology for Agere Systems said, the Bangalore team is increasingly shouldering comprehensive strategic chip design, and development support responsibilities, which necessitated the expansion.

Agere Systems India managing director Madhusudhan V Atre said that the addition of the new facility to the existing site is driven by the increasing importance of its Indian team in Agere's growth.

Agere Systems India Pvt Ltd is the largest development operations for Agere Systems outside of the US with operations comprising R & D activities related to Agere Systems Inc. Agere Systems India is also a company registered under Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).