Microchip Technology Inc. [NASDAQ: MCHP], a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, today announced a US$65 million investment plan for India over the next five years.

Microchip, with over US$1 billion in sales last year, is renowned for designing high-volume embedded control solutions for the consumer, automotive, office-automation, communications and industrial-control markets worldwide.

As part of that investment, Microchip is expected to create 300 new jobs at its new wholly-owned facility, the India Development Centre, Bangalore. The full-fledged development centre, which works on integrated-circuit development and marketing, microcontroller development tools and corporate information systems, was officially inaugurated today by Mrs R. Rajalakshmi, Director, Software Technology Parks of India, Bangalore and Microchip's Executive Vice President, Ganesh Moorthy.

"Located at the Whitefield Export Promotion Industrial Park, Microchip’s India Development Centre is a state-of-the-art facility that plays an important role in the development of world-leading 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers and digital signal controllers. The Centre has already delivered many technology innovations, including work on the PIC18 and PIC24 microcontroller and dsPIC® digital signal controller designs, as well as digital-power and motor-control solutions," said Moorthy.

"Today’s investment demonstrates Microchip’s long-term commitment to India, and builds on the foundation we have created over the last 12 years. Not only are we impressed by the quality of the workforce available in India, we also see opportunity in the emergence of many Indian companies as global powerhouses in the development of embedded systems.”

Microchip Technology, which has sales offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and Pune, is also supported by 120 sales and technical representatives from seven distribution partners spread across 40 locations in India.

According to industry analyst firm Gartner Dataquest’s 2007 rankings, Microchip is the worldwide leader in 8-bit microcontrollers (Gartner Dataquest, “Top Companies Revenue from Shipments of 8-bit MCU – Worldwide” 2008). In addition, based on the India Semiconductor Association-Frost & Sullivan 2007/08 - India Semiconductor Market Update report and industry information, Microchip is the #1 supplier of 8-bit microcontrollers in India.

A microcontroller is a tiny computer-like processor with specialized control interfaces that adds intelligence to thousands of everyday electronic products to make them more useful. Today, the average consumer uses more than 100 microcontroller-enhanced products everyday—from the microwave oven in the morning, to the copier and phone at work, to the remote control for evening television viewing. While we may not notice them, microcontrollers are practically everywhere and provide direct benefits to our daily lives.

Microchip customer support

Microchip is committed to supporting its customers by helping design engineers develop products faster and more efficiently. Customers can access four main service areas at www.microchip.com. The Support area provides a fast way to get questions answered; the Sample area offers free evaluation samples of any Microchip device; microchipDIRECT provides 24-hour pricing, ordering, inventory and credit for convenient purchasing of all Microchip devices and development tools; finally, the Training area educates customers through webinars, sign-ups for local seminar and workshop courses, and information about the annual MASTERs events held throughout the world.

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About Microchip Technology

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Ariz., Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at www.microchip.com.