Jayakumar B Emertxe - IESA: Industrial Visit to Cadence, STMicro & NXP
Emertxe has become a member of the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), a premier industry body driving India’s transformation from a design-centric hub into a comprehensive semiconductor Product Nation. IESA brings together industry leaders, policymakers, global investors, and academia to advance chip design, manufacturing, and workforce development across the country, through platforms such as its annual Vision Summit, IESA Industry Connect 2026, and sector-wide skilling initiatives. Marking the start of this membership, Emertxe took part in an IESA event – an industrial visit to Noida – where its team engaged with three of the semiconductor and electronic design automation (EDA) industry’s most influential companies: Cadence, STMicroelectronics, and NXP Semiconductors. Emertxe was represented at these visits by Maaz Jukaku, Managing Director, and Jayakumar Balasubramanian, Director.
The visit comes at a pivotal time for India’s semiconductor ambitions, with platforms like this semiconductor conference becoming increasingly central to that push under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). With the global semiconductor industry projected to need nearly two million skilled professionals as it scales toward a $2 trillion market, talent development has become one of the most critical levers for India to strengthen its position in the global semiconductor value chain – a challenge that closely mirrors Emertxe’s own mission in deep-tech education.
The visit offered a close look at how global technology leaders are approaching chip design, embedded intelligence, and workforce development – insights that will directly inform how Emertxe shapes its curriculum and industry partnerships going forward.
Cadence: Modeling the Future Before Silicon Is Cut
The first stop was Cadence, a global leader in electronic design automation and a familiar name at nearly every major semiconductor industry event. The session opened with an overview of the company’s full stack of tools, software, solutions, and hardware that support chip designers across the semiconductor lifecycle. A key theme was the ability to model designs extensively before actual silicon is manufactured – significantly reducing time-to-market for semiconductor companies through a turnkey approach. The discussion also touched on the broader industry consolidation trend, referencing Synopsys’ acquisition of Ansys as an example of EDA players expanding their capabilities.
On talent, Cadence emphasized that strong foundational skills across the board remain essential, with C/C++ programming still central, while operating systems knowledge and scripting languages are increasingly important in the EDA domain. AI skills are becoming a valuable addition as organizations increasingly adopt AI-assisted development – but Cadence was clear that making sound, real-time decisions with AI still depends on strong foundational engineering and critical thinking. Alongside technical skills, soft skills – particularly the ability to learn continuously and think across disciplines – were flagged as equally important as technical depth.
The visit also covered Cadence’s academic engagement model, spanning software licensing, faculty development programs, alignment with AICTE curriculum, courseware access, and support for government-backed Centers of Excellence and lab infrastructure – along with a candid discussion on the investments such collaborations require. The session surfaced several potential touch points for future collaboration between Emertxe and Cadence.
STMicroelectronics: Innovation Across Automotive, Industry, and Smart Living
The second visit was to STMicroelectronics, where the discussion centered on the company’s Integrated Design and Manufacturing (IDM) model and its innovation efforts spanning academia, startups, government, and CSR initiatives.
STMicroelectronics outlined four key focus areas driving its product and innovation roadmap:
Automotive – particularly Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
Industrial Automation
Smart City infrastructure
Smart Home and Consumer electronics
These are underpinned by strengths in sensors and memory, microcontrollers (MCUs), and a range of reference platforms designed to help partners accelerate product development. On the broader semiconductor landscape, STMicroelectronics noted that India already contributes over 20% of the world’s design engineers, and that opportunities lie in positioning manufacturing as a value-add and innovation driver, alongside stronger end-to-end program management. At the same time, the STM leadership team was candid that the overall quality of engineering graduates entering the workforce remains a challenge industry-wide.
The team also saw live demonstrations of use cases built around these focus areas at STMicroelectronics’ innovation lab – offering several takeaways and potential avenues for collaboration in talent development, upskilling, and innovation.
NXP Semiconductors: Thinking in Systems, Not Silos
The final visit took the Emertxe team to NXP Semiconductors, where the conversation focused on the technology trends shaping the semiconductor industry: electrification, autonomous driving and ADAS, Industry 4.0, microcontroller units (MCUs), and Edge AI.
NXP outlined five priority areas for education and skill-building that align closely with these trends:
Edge Intelligence
Electrification & Energy
Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV)
Secure Connectivity
Automation & Autonomy
A recurring message throughout the session was the importance of systems-level thinking – encouraging students and engineers to approach projects as interconnected systems rather than isolated technical blocks. This philosophy was reflected in NXP’s project-based learning approach, including real-world case studies such as their own reference designs, used to help learners connect theory with practical, end-to-end product thinking.
Looking Ahead
The industrial visit to Cadence, STMicroelectronics, and NXP Semiconductors – much like any well-organised semiconductor industry event – gave Emertxe a valuable, first-hand perspective on where the semiconductor and embedded systems industry is headed, from AI-enabled chip design and systems-level engineering to the evolving skill sets the next generation of engineers will need. These insights will directly shape how Emertxe evolves its training programs in embedded systems, IoT, and adjacent deep-tech domains.
As a new member of the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), Emertxe looks forward to deepening its engagement with the semiconductor ecosystem through this IESA event, and to building on the relationships formed during this visit through future collaborations in curriculum development, skilling, and industry-academia partnerships. Continued participation in gatherings such as this semiconductor conference will remain an important part of that journey ahead.
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