Bengaluru, Feb 25 Job openings in the Indian semiconductor design global capability centres (GCCs) increased in the October-December period last year (Q4 2025), with November and December recording the strongest month-on-month uptick in job openings during the year, though hiring volumes remained below early-2025 levels, a report showed on Wednesday.
According to Careernet’s ‘India’s Semiconductor Design GCC Talent Ecosystem-CY 2025’ report, an analysis of hiring data across the top 50 semiconductor design GCCs shows that open positions declined steadily from January to October in 2025.
However, Q4 2025 signalled renewed confidence, it noted.
Large GCCs (over 5,000 employees) saw the widest swings in monthly hiring, while small GCCs displayed high volatility, reacting faster to market signals.
Mid-sized GCCs (1,000–5,000 employees) remained the most stable, with relatively controlled fluctuations through the year.
Notably, Q4 recorded at least one month of positive hiring momentum across GCCs of all sizes, indicating selective green shoots rather than a broad-based rebound, said the report.
“The hiring correction seen in Q4 of CY2025 points to a structural shift in India’s semiconductor design ecosystem. It reflects a combination of global demand normalisation, tighter cost controls, and more disciplined capital allocation across semiconductor design GCCs,” said Neelabh Shukla, Chief Business Officer, Careernet.
As the sector matures, organisations are moving away from expansion-led hiring toward prioritising roles that deliver direct design impact and long-term IP value.
This shift is resulting in fewer but more specialised openings, with a clear emphasis on core VLSI (Very-Large-Scale Integration) and advanced design capabilities over volume-led growth, said Shukla.
Moreover, ongoing policy support for R&D, domestic IP creation, and industry-led skilling is reinforcing this transition, prompting GCCs to align talent strategies with long-term value creation rather than short-term volume growth.
This signals India’s evolving role from a cost-efficient design hub to a capability-led semiconductor powerhouse.
The study highlights that core VLSI roles accounted for 44 per cent of total open positions in Q4 2025.
Within VLSI (active talent pool of 2.6 lakhs professionals), Verification (28 per cent) and Front-end Design (26 per cent) led demand with a talent pool of 200,000 professionals, followed by Physical Verification (18 per cent) and Physical Design (14 per cent).
System and Application Software roles contributed 40 per cent of open positions, reflecting the growing convergence of hardware design and software-driven optimisation, it mentioned.
The report discusses the experience level distribution of the active talent pool across core VLSI skills, and it highlights a clear divergence between high-demand core roles and specialised roles.
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