FTD signs accord with Toko for chip development

Bangalore, Apr 16: Future Techno Designs, a Singapore headquartered leading provider of product development and technology solutions, today signed a long term agreement with Japanese Toko company to set up a dedicated design centre here for product development in the area of analogue and mixed signal integrated circuits.

Announcing this to newsmen after signing the agreement, FTD Director (India Operations) N Ramakrishanan said the centre would focus the design and development of power management ICs and would also be involved in high end research in this space. About three million US Dollars would be invested in the first year of operations and would be gradually increased in coming years. FTD would hire 10 engineers and raise it to 30 in coming years, he said.

FTD had been engaging with Toko for over a year and had successfully executed full chip design projects for them. The most recent success had been a DC-DC converter chip which had been taped out, accepted and would be going into production shortly, he added.

Replying to a question he said FTD would also sign similar long term agreements with other Japanese companies on various products in near future. However, he declined to explain further on this aspect.

Toko General Manager Takashi Kuwajima, who was also present hoped the partnership with FTD would be symbiotic in nature and extend into trend setting areas in the years to come.

UNI