Josh Foulger, the country head and MD,Foxconn India while expressing his delightful journey in the electronics industry at the ELCINA-EFY Award ceremony 2016, said that the next big category driving electronics will be IoT devices. He also mentioned ” 2 billion mobile phones has been sold worldwide currently but there will be a demand for 24 billion IoT devices . I want some of these to happen in India” . He further explained the huge employment possibility associated with citing the example of China’s IoT sector which has generated 20 million jobs.
Device connectivity is the fundamental aspect of any IoT application. So the sheer volume of deployment will generate a huge demand for the communication hardware, devices and also services. And this is where electronics plays a role.
Each of the IoT devices will require, at the minimum, a microcontroller to add intelligence to the device, one or more sensors to allow for data collection, one or more chips for connectivity and data transmission, and a memory component. The connected devices that transmit information across the relevant networks rely on innovations from semiconductor players—highly integrated microchip designs, for instance, and very low-power functions in certain applications. The semiconductor companies that can effectively deliver these and other innovations to original-equipment manufacturers, original-device manufacturers, and others that are building Internet of Things products and applications will play an important role in the development of the market. That market, in turn, may represent a significant growth opportunity for semiconductor players and their customers.
In the same event, Foulger also discussed the current opportunities that exist in mobile manufacturing sector. He mentioned about an addressable market of 700 million handsets including domestic demand of 300 million and rest 400 million from Africa, Europe and Middle East. This market will drive the mobile manufacturing in India.
Foulger was awarded the prestigious ‘ Electronics  Man of the Year’  Award at the ELCINA-EFY Award , 2016 .
