Wipro targets latest outsourcing trend: R&D

Wipro will also consolidate its embedded technologies and telecoms business units into a product engineering solutions division.

The division already claims expertise in computing, telecommunications and peripherals technologies, and will also target the emerging automotive, medical electronics and avionics markets, said Ramesh Emani, president of Wipro's product engineering solutions unit.

Like many Indian service providers, Wipro Technologies gets most of its revenues from the U.S., Europe and Japan. It now sees opportunities in new markets such as China, Israel, South Korea and Taiwan. It has invested in local partnerships in each country.

With 10,000 engineers, Wipro is already the largest independent product engineering services organization, Emani said. With business growing, it is recruiting hundreds of new engineers each month.

The division already works with nine of the top 10 telecom companies, six of the top 10 mobile phone manufacturers and with all the top semiconductor and computer companies. “The plan here is to take on a larger part of the product engineering of these customers than what we currently do.

A growing number of high-tech companies are outsourcing R&D functions as they focus on design, sales and marketing. Most outsourcing agreements for R&D include a nondisclosure clause, Emani said.