Laird Tech sets up facility in Chennai

Chennai: The US-headquartered Laird Technologies, manufacturer of customised performance-critical products for wireless and other advanced electronic applications, has announced the setting up of its first offshore manufacturing facility in India.

The 1.6-lakh sq. ft facility located at the Nokia SEZ in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, was set up at an investment of over $15 million, and is expected to employ 1,200 people when fully operational.

The company currently employs 400 people and this will go up to at least 1,000 by the end of this year, said Mr Talpallikar, Managing Director-India, Laird Technologies.

It is now supplying products to several manufacturers of mobile phones, telecom infrastructure equipment, computer hardware here from facilities outside India.

“Availability of a skilled work force, convenient logistics and good infrastructure facilities were the key reasons for the choice of Chennai as our first offshore location in the country,” said Mr Talpallikar.

According to him, the new facility would enable Laird to expand its customer base in India over the next 12-18 months. Apart from supplying to its Indian customers, it plans to ramp up production capacity over a period for the export market as well.