Indian design firms eye chip IP model

Kariyatil Krishnadas, EETimes
3/28/2012 4:34 PM EDT

BANGALORE, India – When Ittiam Systems, a media processing company here, said last week that more than 35 percent of its $20 million in annual revenues came from licensing its intellectual property, one observer called it a “landmark” for the company, adding that it was “an encouraging sign for the new generation technology companies in India.”

Ittiam is one of the few Indian companies to successfully deploy an IP licensing model, with sales of about $7 million. That’s small by global standards, but significant here. Another Indian company, Cosmic Circuits, a provider of analog and mixed-signal IP cores, has since announced it “aims to be a major player in semiconductor IP.”