Indian semiconductor companies upgrade engineering skills.(GLOBAL DESIGNER)

Experienced chip designers are becoming an increasingly scarce commodity, as vendors outsource more work to the Indian semiconductor industry. "There is a dearth of design engineers with a combination of electronic-design skills and an adequate knowledge of the latest tools," says G Satish Kumar of Mentor Graphics Sales and Services. To plug the gap, companies such as ATI, Magma, Mentor Graphics, and TI are taking the initiative to upgrade the skills and knowledge of local design engineers. Collectively, the companies spend more than $1 million a year--either in the form of moneta