Processor and GPU makers

The processor makers, whose chips compute in every phone, laptop and server

The phone in your hand, the laptop on your desk and the servers behind every app all run on processors. A processor is the chip that computes. Almost none of these chips are made in India. But a large share of them are designed here.

Kinds of processor

CPU, the central processing unit

It runs the operating system and the apps. It is built to do many different tasks, one after another, very fast.

GPU, the graphics processing unit

It was built to draw images on a screen. It has thousands of small cores that do the same arithmetic at the same time. Training and running AI models needs exactly that kind of arithmetic, so GPUs now power most of AI.

SoC, the system-on-chip

It puts a CPU, a GPU, the modem that connects to the mobile network, and other parts on one chip. Every smartphone runs on one.

FPGA, the field-programmable gate array

Its circuits can be rewired after it is made. Engineers use it for special jobs, and to test a chip design before it is manufactured.

Four kinds of processor: the CPU runs the operating system and the apps; the GPU does the same arithmetic on thousands of small cores at once, and now powers most of AI; the SoC puts a CPU, a GPU, a modem and other parts on the one chip inside every smartphone; and the FPGA can be rewired after it is made.

Designing a chip, and making it. Most chip companies design chips but do not make them. They are called fabless companies. A foundry, a factory that makes chips for other companies, manufactures their designs, mostly in Taiwan. A few companies both design and make chips.

Designing a chip takes years, and happens in stages:

Architecture: deciding what the chip will do, and how its parts fit together.

Design: describing every circuit in a hardware description language, such as Verilog.

Verification: testing the design in software, to prove it works before it is made. This is often the largest part of the work. A mistake found after manufacture can cost months and millions of dollars.

Physical design: laying out billions of transistors on the chip.

Software: the drivers, compilers and libraries that let programmers use the chip.

Software keeps buyers loyal. Programmers write code for a chip using its maker's software tools. Once a large body of software has been built on one maker's tools, moving to another chip is costly. This is a large part of why the leading GPU maker has kept its lead in AI.

Who buys. The buyers are the makers of phones, PCs, servers and cars, and the large cloud companies. Designing a leading chip costs hundreds of millions of dollars, so a chip only pays off if it sells in very large numbers.

Where India fits. The world's leading chip companies run some of their largest design centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. Engineers there design, verify and write the software for chips made in Taiwan and elsewhere.

A fabless company designs a chip in five stages, from architecture to software, and much of that work is done in design centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. A foundry, mostly in Taiwan, makes the chip, and it is sold to the makers of phones, PCs, servers and cars, and to the large cloud companies.

Every company named here has posted software engineering jobs in India. Famous companies that don't actively hire software engineers in India are left out.

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Graphics, AI, PC, server and phone processors

Graphics, AI, PC, server and phone processors

Who makes which processor: NVIDIA and AMD make graphics and AI processors; Intel Corp., AMD and Ampere make processors for PCs and servers; Qualcomm, MediaTek and Samsung Semiconductor make phone chips; and Altera makes programmable chips.

Graphics and AI processors

NVIDIA

with engineers in Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad, makes the GPUs on which nearly all large AI models are trained and run. It also makes CUDA, the software that programmers use to run their work on those GPUs. Its Indian centres design chips and write much of that software. NVIDIA has by far the most job postings in this Industry Vertical, and one of the largest numbers in the whole product-companies collection.

AMD

with engineers in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, makes processors for servers and laptops. It also makes graphics and AI chips that compete with NVIDIA's.

Processors for PCs and servers

Intel Corp.

with engineers in Bengaluru, makes the processors in most of the world's laptops and servers. It runs one of its largest design centres outside America in Bengaluru. Its job postings here are few for a company of its size.

Ampere

with engineers in Bengaluru, designs processors for cloud servers, based on Arm's designs. (More on Arm in Market Segment 35.2, Semiconductor IP companies.)

Phone chips

Qualcomm

with engineers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, designs the Snapdragon chips that run most Android phones, and the modems that connect them.

MediaTek

with engineers in Bengaluru, designs the chips in many of the world's lower-priced phones and televisions.

Samsung Semiconductor

makes memory, phone processors, and chips for other companies. (More on memory in Market Segment 35.6, Memory chips and storage drives.)

Programmable chips

Altera

with engineers in Bengaluru, makes FPGAs. It was separated from Intel in 2025.

The chip designed for AI.

The processor has become the bottleneck of AI. So chip companies now design with AI models in mind. They build processors for the particular arithmetic that AI needs, stack memory right beside them, and link thousands together to work as one machine. AI models are also starting to help design the chips, by placing circuits and writing verification tests. India's design centres are at the centre of both changes.

That is the processor business: CPUs, GPUs and phone chips, designed by a few large companies and made mostly in Taiwan. Much of the design, verification and software is done in India.

Who they hire

Who these companies hire, and for what, is on What semiconductor and chip design companies hire for.

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